So Much for my Happy Ending
by Psychos-Anonymous
Summary: REVISED...AGAIN! Not all fairy tales end happily ever after. This goes for two girls whose endings were far to early to be considered happy. But it seems they've been given a second chance... A chance to relive their life in a place called Middle Earth.
1. A Whole New World

-1P.A.: A friend wanted me to write this so I finally decided to. My first LOTR fic. It's sort of weird…. o.O

WARNING: There will be yaoi/slash/malexmale in this story eventually. No like? No read.

Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. I just enjoy its glory.

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It was a normal Friday at Westville High School. Well it would be normal if it weren't the last day of school. The kids were on their last period before the end of the school year and they were practically falling out of their seats with the urge to run from the school and into three months of freedom.

One girl wasn't sharing their excitement, though. She was sitting in the last row of her English class, absorbed in the large novel she was reading without heed to the teacher in front of her. On the cover was a black stallion carrying one lone black rider, both shrouded in a mist that cast a sinister look to the night scene. Across the top, large print spelled out the title. _The Lord of the Rings_.

The bell rang, causing the girl to jump and look around in surprise at the quickly emptying classroom. She sighed a bit and followed, albeit more slowly than her classmates. Her pale blonde hair, almost white, swayed as she walked down the crowded school halls, trying not to run into anyone or draw too much attention to herself. She stopped in front of her locker, blue eyes concentrating on the combination when a voice sounded behind her.

"We're free."

The girl turned to face her best friend. "We haven't graduated yet."

Tessa, or Tess as she preferred to be called, stood there, all ready to leave. If the school had its stereotype about Goths, Tess must have been their example from the start. The only difference was she had copper brown hair and not the jet black you were used to seeing. She adjusted her black messenger bag on her shoulder, causing the many metal bracelets adorning her hands to clink together pleasantly. "We will next week so shush." Tess admonished lightly before asking, "So, Jazzy girl, ready to leave this place of hell and shallow trend-setters behind?"

Jasmine was the blonde girl's true name. When she met Tess the other immediately said, "No way! That name is too formal… I'll call you Jazz."

Jazz smiled and nodded as she opened her locker. The inside of her locker door was completely covered in pictures of Legolas, Aragorn, Frodo, and the rest of the LOTR cast. She was a tad bit obsessed with J.R.R. Tolkien's story... It wasn't her fault the book was a literary masterpiece! "Just let me grab some things."

"Oh yes. You wouldn't want to forget these." Tess said, tapping a picture of Aragorn.

Jazz giggled a bit and replied easily, "No I wouldn't." She quickly, but with the utmost care, peeled the pictures off and set them in a folder. She gave the metal chamber one last inspection for missing hobbits or elves before slamming the door with a resounding bang. "Let's go."

The girls walked out of the school, ignoring the odd stares they were so used to getting. They were almost exact opposites at first sight, a light to a dark. Despite their differences they were almost exactly the same. Too bad everyone only gave them a first look before ignoring them completely. Both had been isolated at the beginning of their freshman year, Tess because of her style and Jazz because of her quiet bookworm nature. They weren't the "cool partiers" that everyone wanted to be associated with.

"So what are you going to do over the summer?" Tess asked.

"Read." Jazz said happily in return, flashing her friend a bright grin.

"As usual."

"Oh shut up. I'm also going to New Zealand for a week." She added with excitement. "It's my parent's present to me for graduating!"

"You lucky, lucky girl." Tess muttered with a playful glare.

"And guess what!" The other continued gleefully.

"What?"

"My parents said I could take one friend with me! So you better pack your bags."

"Seriously?! Oh my god! Thanks, Jazz!" Tess said, feeling her own friend's emotions rush into her as she thought of the small island country. "We'll walk the fields of Pelennor!"

"Scale Caradhras!"

"Visit the Shire!"

"Have a drink in the Prancing Pony!"

"And maybe meet a dead sexy ranger there!" Tess cried causing both girls to laugh. They knew all those things were unlikely. They just weren't the type of people to have such grand adventures like that...or pick up boys.

"Maybe." Jazz muttered wistfully before stopping at the street corner, waiting for the signal to change and allow her to cross. "See you, Tess."

"Later, Jazzy girl." Her friend called over her shoulder, continuing down the street towards her own home.

Jasmine sighed and pulled her book from her backpack. She decided to read a little on the way home and opened to her page to start reading where she left off. She heard the cars next to her start moving and gave the crossing signal a brief glance for confirmation of safety before walking into the street, letting her eyes focus once more on the small print. She was going to need glasses soon, she reasoned.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp tingle at the base of her spine, making her drop her book in surprise. The feeling ran up her body to her head and down to her toes, making her shiver violently. Just as quickly as it had happened, it stopped, leaving her dazed and slightly confused. Normally it was Tessa who complained of a "tickle feeling" in her spine...

She shrugged it off with a little effort and bent over to pick up her book from the concrete, freezing when a sudden gust of wind encircled her. The pages fluttered and thrashed like a dying dove, crackling as they continued to flip over until they unexpectedly stopped against all logic on page 132, the beginning of the chapter Fog on the Barrow-Downs. As the wind continued to howl around her, Jazz took a sharp intake of breath when she noticed the words were blurring and meshing together. "What the….?" Maybe she needed glasses after all... or medication...

"JAZZ! WATCH OUT!" She heard, looking up in the direction of her friend's voice.

Her eyes widened and she had no time to scream before a speeding truck was on top of her. She felt a crushing weight on her chest and heard the sickening crack of her bones but felt no pain. Then everything vanished—the pressure, the noise... She felt so light, almost like she was floating. She couldn't breathe or move her arms... It all ended too soon and she found herself feeling the weight gravity forced upon her once more. She scrunched up her eyes and moaned softly at her aching joints. If this was heaven then why were those annoyingly loud birds here?

"Oh good you're coming around."

The sudden male voice shocked her out of her tired state as she quickly sat up and looked at the owner. He was standing a few feet away, and convinced Jazz that she was indeed in heaven. The male was an angel—a _literal angel_. His long white robes fell to the ground and shone with a light she couldn't explain even with junior level chemistry under her belt. He was strikingly handsome and had the most brilliant green eyes she'd ever seen. His black hair fell into his face a bit but she could see him smiling. Despite the fact it sounded corny, the only thought she had was, "_He's so angelic..._"

"Now are you going to get off the ground or not?" His long white wings flexed a bit and he chuckled when she jumped.

Jazz then realized where she was. She was sitting on the soft floor of a forest. The trees seemed very old, not just because they were towering above her, but the feeling she had that they were. It was the feeling a person got when they walked into a place where technology had never touched—a completely natural-feeling place. Something about the look of the woods was familiar even though she had never left her hometown before, and it didn't have trees this large. She couldn't quite figure it out.

She finally looked back at the angel who seemed to still be waiting for an answer to his previous question. Jazz felt more like _throwing up_ than standing up so she decided to stay where she was. "Who are you and where are we?" She demanded, sounding more timid than she wanted when faced with this situation.

The angel bowed a bit, realizing that he was forgetting his manners. Introductions first and _then_ other formalities... "I am Darien. I'd like to be the first to welcome you to Middle Earth."

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P.A.: So what do you think? A bit confusing, ne? R&R!


	2. My End Has Not Come

P.A.: I'm on an updating streak since school is starting soon… -.- So I hope these chapters don't seem rushed or anything.

Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR.

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"…… What?" Jazz asked, barely above a whisper. Middle Earth...? Was this some sort of weird, psychotic joke?

"Ok let's try another approach…." Darien said quietly, pointing at the girl still sitting on the bed of leaves. "You, as in Jasmine A. Black, are now in Middle Earth because I, your guardian angel, brought you here."

"Guardian angel…?" The girl muttered, eyes nearly bugging out of her head. She sat there in silence, staring at her apparent guardian angel in horror. This proved it. She was dreaming. It was a very weird dream but definitely a dream. Sure this one didn't beat the dream about dancing lobsters waving Mexican flags while watching a wheelchair race but it was still a weird one.

In fact, she was leaning towards her entire day being a dream. Yes, her alarm clock would go off and her mother would peek in to make sure she wasn't hitting the snooze button and then she would get ready for school and meet Tess at the cross walk-

"Jasmine...?" Darien asked softly, watching the girl retreat from reality into her own world of denial. This was _not _good... Though he did guess that he could have put the information on her a little more lightly... He was terrible at this job! "Jasmine, are you alright?"

The dreamy, half-there smile she gave him made the angel wince. "Yeah... Sort of... I'm going to go try and wake up now..." She informed him softly, standing up and walking off in a direction she seemingly chose at random.

"Ack! W-Wait, Jasmine!" He called, jogging after her and wringing his hands worriedly, "You can't go off by yourself! It's dangerous!"

"Dangerous? It's a dream." She stated sternly, starting to feel a bit more confident with each step she took. "I can wake up if something tries to kill me."

"But you're already _dead_!" He shouted, sighing when she stopped walking and froze up. "Good. Now that you've stopped walk-"

THUMP!

Darien stared at her once again unconscious form and slapped his forehead in exasperation. "I am SO fired..."

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"Tessa! Dinner!"

"I'm not hungry, Mom…."

"Fine! You never eat anything I cook for you, you unappreciative brat! Don't expect to get anything later either!"

Tess listened to the footsteps fade away and sighed. She looked around her dark room and then back at the picture she clutched in her hands. It was of Jazz during their first sleep over. She was reading a book on dream analysis. She had lost herself in it and hadn't even heard Tess take the picture. It was what Jazz always seemed like, lost in another world that seemed more appealing than the one she was trapped in.

"Now she's gone…" She whispered to the silence, a tear falling on the picture.

Jazz hadn't stood a chance. The truck was right on top of her when she turned around. The blood… There had been so much blood. It reminded her of something Jazz had said once about the French national anthem. Something about how one of the lines was "Let the blood run in the streets".

"Everything comes back to you, doesn't it?" Tess whispered bitterly, wiping the drop of water from the glass angrily.

Jazz was a big part of her life. She was the only person who hadn't turned away in disgust when she talked to them. Even her own parents hated Tess. They were a prestigious family and very important to the community while she was a little "Goth girl". Her parents thought she was a disgrace to their name. They tried to beat the lesson into her once, but she threatened to tell the police and they stopped. Sure they didn't think the police would believe her but when Jazz showed her how you could see the difference between accidental bruises and those inflicted by weapons or humans and how those bruises can be used as court evidence, her parents realized she could really cause some trouble and stopped—with the physical abuse anyways...

"ARGH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She screamed, throwing the picture against the wall, watching the frame fall apart on the floor.

"Tessa? What the hell was that!"

"Nothing, Dad!" She snapped icily, "I tripped!" She went over and started to pick up the glass, still muttering angrily under her breath. "Now that was stupid…I'm going to have to buy a new frame now..." One of the shards of glass slipped in her jerky, furious movements and sliced her finger open. She winced slightly as the cut burned in pain and watched the blood slowly drip down her finger. It was hypnotic really…

She had thought about this ever since the funeral this morning. Why not leave now? No one was holding her back anymore. Her parents hated her, the school abandoned her, and her only friend was dead.

"See you soon, Jazzy girl…." She whispered, dropping the glass and going into the bathroom.

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"Jasmine! Come on! Wake up..." Darien growled, leaning over the girl and sharply tapping her cheek. He was ecstatic when he discovered the shock hadn't killed her but that didn't mean he wasn't shameful for making her faint on him. He just wasn't used to talking to people, that's all... He spent his afterlife watching them, not engaging in conversation over tea and biscuits! This was why he kept getting reassigned...

He jumped as his charge gave a soft groan, eyes sliding open groggily. He flashed her his most reassuring smile but it faded awkwardly as her eyes snapped open completely and gazed at him in utter horror.

"Erm... I'm sorry?" He said slowly, terrified that he would make her faint again. Inwardly he winced at the apology. It had sounded so insincere...

Jazz stared up at the young man for a few moments before her expression collapsed into one of utmost grief. "I'm dead…." She whispered, tears pouring from her eyes as easily as a faucet being turned. This, needless to say, scared Darien even worse than another fainting spell.

"H-Hey... It's ok... Don't cry..." He whispered desperately but to no avail.

Jazz sat up and curled in on herself, wailing. It was done, over, gone. All her hopes and dreams for her future were useless. She wasn't going to get married to the man of her dreams or have kids. She wasn't going to go to the same college with Tess or visit New Zealand. She wasn't going to grow old and retire to the beach to die of natural causes. She hadn't even made it to her seventeenth birthday!

Her life had been so utterly pointless! What was the point in living if you only got such a short time? It wasn't fair! She hadn't ever done anything to deserve this! She went to school, did her homework on time, obeyed her parents, and everything else expected from a good child. Fate was playing such a sick joke and she sure as hell wasn't laughing!

She jumped when she felt someone pull her into a tight hug, putting their arms around her with such uncertainty that it was like they hadn't ever hugged somebody before. For a few brief seconds, Jazz thought it was Tessa but then shoved that thought from her mind. Tess wasn't in the afterlife, she thought bitterly.

"_Please_ stop crying..." Darien whispered above her. "I can't stand it when you humans cry..."

Jazz's sobs renewed themselves as she buried her face in his chest, clinging to his pearly robes. If she had been aware of herself, she would have been embarrassed for acting like she was in front of a complete stranger but she didn't care anymore. Somebody was there willing to comfort and she was going to take it.

Darien felt accomplished as Jazz started to calm herself in his arms. Still, in his heart, he felt an aching hole. It was what happened to angels when their charges were in pain. They had to be aware at all times, after all. He desperately felt the need to say something to mend the hurt in his own heart but mostly to mend hers.

"Your death... It was random." He stated softly. "You aren't being punished for it or anything... It just happened... I tried...I tried to stop it you know... It's my fault... I'm a failure."

"Your fault...?" She questioned, her voice choked with tears. Jazz gazed up into the liquid emerald of his eyes, seeing her own anguish mirrored in their depths.

"It's my fault you died…. I tried to push you out of the way. It's something that the higher ranked angels prohibit." He muttered, closing his eyes so she couldn't delve deeper into his soul. "They say it has bad effects…. I didn't care. I had to save you... I pushed you when you touched the book on the ground and I was… frozen… then the truck hit you and we ended up here…."

"You tried to do that for me…?" She murmured, slowly letting her fingers unclench and lay against his chest.

"Well… I didn't think you should die. You had so much ahead of you…." Darien admitted, opening his eyes to give her a mirthless smile. "You were a good person... I didn't want such a good person with good ideas and intentions be erased..."

"Compared to you," Jazz stated slowly, deliberately dragging his attention to her words, "Any act I could have committed would have been meager... You tried to save my life..."

"But I-"

"You didn't fail." She snapped, a bit harsher than intended but it succeeded in stopping his self-pity. "If you had failed, I wouldn't be in here, obviously _alive_. You _saved_ me."

Darien stared down at her in deep thought before a smile spread across his face. Jazz felt warmth spread through her body and a smile of her own appear as she looked at him. It was odd how making a person happy had made her happy as well. She hadn't felt this way about making people smile since Tess...

"Darien...Do you know _why_ we're here?" She asked quickly before her recent train of thought dragged her back into another emotional breakdown.

The angel frowned again, this time in contemplation as he considered her question. Finally, he answered hesitantly,"I think it has something to do with that…." His gaze slid to the right, pulling Jazz's until it landed on the large novel that had cause Jazz to pause in the street. The brilliant gold title was starting to fade away. "I flipped through it while waiting for you to wake up... It's like that on almost every page..."

She reached out and tentatively picked up the book. She was relieved when she wasn't immediately whisked away to another world, only this time alone. The girl opened the book and idly flipped through, seeing that Darien was not lying. It was probably against angel rules to lie anyway.

"The only place not blurry is everything up to page 132." He informed her, peeking over her shoulder as she flipped to said page.

"This was the page it stopped on in my world…" She muttered, staring at the crystal clear words. It was the same story up to the Barrow-Downs. There, the words meshed together, some sharpening focus and others fading to a dark smudge. It made her dizzy so she closed the book and turned to look at her angel. "Want my opinion?"

"Of course."

"I think that's where we are. We didn't drop into the world. We dropped into the _story_."

"Meaning...?" Darien asked slowly.

"The story hasn't happened yet." She inferred, digging through every possible source her brain had to offer on random dimension travel into books. There wasn't much. Mostly fanfiction. "The things that happen in the book are still up in the air, so to speak... They aren't set in stone...or down on paper...or... Oh I don't know!" She wailed, rubbing her eyes vigorously with the heels of her palms. "I'm just making this up as I go along!"

"Well let's just say your theory is correct." Darien stated, "That means everything will go as the book originally had set down as long as we don't, like, kill Frodo or something by accident." When Jazz gave him a strange look he sighed exasperatedly. "Look... We just need to stay on the down-low and find a way out of this place."

"I'm ok with that."

"Me too."

"One question, though."

"Yes?"

"What's a lunar wraith?"

"What?" The angel asked in surprise, not at all expecting that.

"I saw the words flash across the page for a second. I figured since you're an angel you'd know about things like that..." She muttered, looking down awkwardly.

"It's a creature, a demon of sorts. It gains power as the moon waxes and moves across the sky and loses power as it wanes and sets, hence the 'lunar' part of the name. It prefers the night because that is when the moon is brightest and feeds upon humans and other creatures. Very mean as you can imagine." He explained hurriedly, waving off the question soon after.

"Oh…."

"Speaking of night dangers… The woods aren't safe at night. Let's try to make it to the road." Darien said, standing suddenly and looking around as if the "night dangers" would leap out of the bushes to kill them...again. "Climb on my back, Jasmine. I'll fly us to the road. Then we can make for Bree."

"Ok. Just one more thing."

"What is it?" He asked.

"Call me Jazz. Jasmine is way too formal." She said before jumping on his back and trying not to hurt his wings.

"Ok… Jazz."

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"A lunar wraith…." A being muttered from a tree above where Darien and Jazz had just been talking. "Hasn't been a new one in Middle Earth for an age… Let alone a female one… I wonder how long he can keep it a secret from her…"

He leaned back against the trunk of the tree he sat in and thought aloud, "So many things are changing…. The Nazgul are abroad and Orcs are massing in Mordor…The Gray Wizard missing...What strange plots are in motion, I wonder…"

"That line of trees and that must mark the road!"

The being's head whipped around and he crouched down farther so he was sure the four riders wouldn't see him.

"Splendid! If we make good going this afternoon as we did this morning…"

He didn't listen to the rest. Four hobbits in the Old Forest? Now that was _definitely_ strange. Hobbits didn't often travel through the woods to lands outside the Shire. Actually it was more of a _never _in those regards. They normally took the roads around it ever since the trees attacked the hedge outside Buckland.

"Hobbits far from home in evil times…." He whispered mischievously. "I wonder if anyone is around to hear them scream…."

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P.A.: Confusing… again… If you are confused about the hedge thing then you haven't read the books… This will contain mostly BOOK material and some movie stuff. R&R please!


	3. New Beginnings

P.A.: x.x I've been so lazy... Every time I try to come and write something I get distracted by all that anime stuff I bought... and the new Inuyasha game came out recently so I've been really distracted.

Ceke: I prefer he term lazy cause that's what you are! Me and Cean leave on the vacation promised in our contract only to find out you've been slacking off on your writing! Disgraceful...

P.A.: Shut up... Anyway! The figure will be revealed in this chapter!

Ceke: ONWARD!

Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR.

Warning: In case you didn't catch it first chapter this will have slash/yaoi/malexmale in the future...Maybe...My plots change so much it's debatable.

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Poor, foolish hobbits.

They had no idea what stalked them as they journeyed across the darkened realm of the Barrow-Downs. They had no idea what waited for them in the thickening fog. They had no idea what smirked at their naïve chatter and flexed its claws in anticipation.

_No idea_.

Too bad the hobbits didn't realize their petite steeds, bearing them through the dusk, were leading them to their demise. Stupid animals. Reacting to fear instead of logic. A small fanged grin appeared on his face at the thought of their fear. He liked the last emotion his victims felt before the icy grip of death wrapped around their body was sweet, undeniable fear.

He'd make his move soon.

"Is something the matter, Mr. Frodo?" Samwise asked, looking over at the other hobbit in concern. "You have been awfully quiet."

"It's nothing, Sam." Frodo answered, trying to sound light hearted. "Just thinking about what Tom Bombadil said to us."

"He was a strange fellow, that Bombadil." Sam muttered, nodding slightly to himself. "I wonder how he could resist the power of the Ring..."

Frodo nodded his head as his friend continued talking on and on about the journey. He looked over his shoulder again, eyes searching the white blanket of fog surrounding them. Ever since they had started toward the road this morning, he had felt an ominous air settle over their small procession. Frodo continued to blame it on the closeness of the downs, but now...

"I hate to interrupt your little talk but..." Merry said from somewhere in front. "I can't see two feet in front of my nose in this fog."

"I don't see how you can miss your own nose, Merry." Pippin quipped.

"It would be foolish to continue on in this weather. We should find a place up ahead to stop." Merry continued as if he hadn't heard the Took.

Frodo squinted around, trying to penetrate the fog far enough to see some sort of landmark that would give the lost hobbits an idea of their whereabouts. A smile broke out over his face when he saw two large shapes rise up a few yards ahead of him. It had to be the north-gate of the downs! If they passed this then they would have a clear trail to the road.

"Come on!" The older hobbit called, hurrying ahead on his pony. "We're almost out of this!"

The shapes loomed closer and closer, and Frodo felt it again. Turning in his saddle, he tried to call out to his friends, only to find they hadn't followed him. He was completely alone.

"Sam? Merry?" He called back into the sea of white. "Pippin! Why haven't you followed?"

"Oh they would have followed... Trust me, my dear hobbit, they would have."

The startled hobbit turned sharply to face the voice. He saw no one in front of him.

"Confused? Come a bit closer."

Slowly, the pony the hobbit rode upon started forward. Frodo frantically tried to make it stop, but it continued towards the ominous columns rising up in front of his vision. The large stone markers towered over his frightened form, guarding the tomb of long dead royals.

"That's better." The silky voice spoke again, sending shivers up the hobbit's spine.

"W-Who are you!" Frodo cried, looking frantically for the other.

"Look up."

The hobbit followed the order and gasped in fright. Sitting atop one of the giant columns was a creature unlike any he had ever seen. At first glance he could have been mistaken for a man, but he was too short to be a man, yet too tall to be a hobbit. His face was angelic like that of the elves, but the twinkling purple eyes and long fiery red hair tied back a low ponytail was unlike any elf Frodo had ever encountered in books or flesh. However, it was the large, leathery, black wings that spread out behind the being and the long, whip-like tail dropping down to brush the damp grass fifteen feet away that caused Frodo's heart to race with unyielding terror.

"What is wrong, dear hobbit? You seem to be speechless." The man said smugly, flexing his sickle-like claws on the tips of his fingers as he gave a fanged smirk.

"W-What are you...?" Frodo stuttered in fear.

"Hungry."

Frodo had no time to react before the manlike creature launched himself from the rock structure and dove at the startled hobbit and pony. He moved so swiftly despite his bulky appendages, striking with the precision and speed of a snake but with the grace of a wild cat. The horse reared back as the being landed before it, swinging its front hooves madly in defense while throwing its poor rider to the ground in the process.

Survival of the fittest.

"Feisty little creature you have here." The man said cheekily, cruelty lacing every smooth word that fell from his lips. "We will have to fix that."

With that said, his long tail shot out and wrapped around the poor creature's neck. He lifted the struggling creature off the ground, an amazing feat for a tail so frail looking. The pony thrashed wildly for several moments before the astonished hobbits eyes before the creature holding it became bored with the sight. Pointless struggle quickly became utterly useless to his agenda.

"Stubborn creature no longer holds any purpose for me...The amusement is gone." He swung his tail around and slammed the pony into the stone column. Frodo winced at the sound of snapping bones and watched the creature fall to the ground.

It didn't get up again.

"Now where was I? Oh yes..." His eyes landed on Frodo, glinting maliciously in the dim light. "The hobbit."

Said hobbit scrambled back from him, trying to put some distance between him and this monster. His actions only seemed to fuel the sadistic delight the creature was gaining from this meeting, but Frodo was too blinded by terror to realize this.

"Oh come now." The creature said. His tail shot out and wrapped around Frodo's ankle. "I'm not that horrible to look at am I?"

Frodo gave a cry of surprise as he was lifted of the ground and hung upside-down, face to face with the other. For a few terrifying seconds, Frodo believed he would end up just like his horse, smashed against the column of stone before being devoured. The man, however, simply cocked his head to the side and studied the hobbit closely.

"W-What do you want?" Frodo asked.

"I'm just curious." He answered, sniffing Frodo, making the other cringe away. "Fifty years old, eh? Hobbiton I believe..."

"H-How did you know that!"

"I've been through the Shire many a time in my life to know a hobbit from a man, and you have the accent of one of the Hobbiton folk. As for your age... that will be my little secret."

The hobbit was petrified, the being noted. He expected this from a hobbit like him. They isolate themselves so long that they have no idea what lurks beyond the borders of their safe little Shire. What confused him was why the hobbits were leaving the Shire, especially with the Nazgul running through the country. The pubs were constantly filled with dark words about things they couldn't possibly understand, but would undoubtedly take to heart as a grim warning against the evil powers at work in Middle Earth. It was also dangerous because they could get mistaken for this Baggins person that the Nine wanted... to find...

It all makes sense.

"They're searching for you, aren't they?"

The question startled Frodo and made his heart freeze in his chest. He _knew_.

"Answer! Are you the one they're searching for?" He demanded of the hobbit, giving him a fierce shake and letting his burning eyes deliver all threats.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" He stammered in return, trying to scramble away from him. If this thing found out who he was, he'd probably kill him to get the Ring. That's what anyone like this creature would do.

"You're a horrible liar, little hobbit."

Frodo's heart skipped a beat. What was he going to do? This thing in front of him was certainly going to find out about the Ring at this rate. There had to be something he could do to prevent this from happening. Maybe he could call out and maybe his friends would be able to here him. But what if that just got the creature angry and he decided to kill him before anyone came? If only Tom was here. He would know what to do! Wait...

"Tom..." Frodo whispered in self-revelation.

"T-Tom?" The creature stuttered, fear flashing briefly in his eyes. "As in Tom Bombadil?"

This was a shock for the creature still holding the petrified hobbit. If this man knew Tom Bombadil then he was not one to threaten, especially right inside the Old Forest. No one in their right mind would _ever _take the threat of Bombadil lightly. He wasn't one of those suicidal types anyways...

"I see this was an inopportune moment to meet you, little hobbit." The thing said to Frodo, his eyes cold with fury. "But do not think this is the last you will see of me."

A great gust of wind slammed into the hobbit as the creature beat its large wings to take flight. With a small push off from the ground, it left the earth for the skies. Frodo gave a shout as the tail holding him in the air suddenly disappeared and he slammed back into the earth and complete darkness.

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"Darien?"

"Yes, Jazz?"

"I think we should land..."

"Why? I can see the road from here. We're almost there." The angel said, confusion lacing his voice. He certainly thought flying was much easier than walking.

"Well..." Jazz muttered, clutching him tighter as he bushed the last remaining treetops and flew over open field. "Whatever is on the road will be able to see us too... and I don't think they tend to have flying people in Middle Earth."

"Good point..." Darien sighed, slowly flying lower so he would not lose Jasmine in a freefall. When he touched ground, the young girl immediately hopped off his back and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like a small thank God.

"So, Miss. I-Read-The-Trilogy-Ten-Times..." Darien started, smiling a bit at her embarrassed blush. "What should we change our clothes to?"

"Clothes?" The high school student asked, looking at him in confusion.

"Yes clothes!" The angel yelled. "If we're in Middle Earth we need to dress like we are! Jeans and a t-shirt are not the way to be traipsing around in the wild!"

"Oh..." She muttered, feeling somewhat idiotic for not realizing that. Of course they would need a change of clothes. People in Middle Earth did not walk around in jeans and t-shirts...or flowing white robes for that matter. She thought back to all the scenes in the movies and the detailed descriptions in the books, since she couldn't do that not with the blurry writing. "Well... We can go with the movie clothes I guess..." Those were easier to picture in her mind.

"I've seen the movies as much as you so I have a pretty good idea..." Darien answered, nodding slightly. He was constantly guarding her so he was pretty grateful that Jazz happened to be an avid movie fan along with a bookworm. Human movies amused him...

"Where are we gonna get some clothes?"

The angel smirked and cracked his knuckles. "I have a few centuries put into my career as an angel. I know how to disguise others and myself. So! Elf or Maiden? Or would you rather go with the rugged ranger look?"

Jasmine smiled shyly and nudged the grass with her worn converse. "Well I've always wondered what it felt like to be a ranger..."

"Ranger it is!"

There was a bright flash and Jazz felt as if there were suddenly hundreds of feathers tickling her skin. She started to laugh loudly at the sensation and squirmed, trying to rid herself of the delightful feeling. The feeling suddenly disappeared and she opened her eyes hesitantly.

"Oh my god! You look so awesome, Darien!" She squealed, taking in her friend's new appearance. Her guardian angel stood before her in traditional Mirkwood elf clothing and even had a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to his back.

"Me? Look at you! The first female ranger!" He cried, tucking a lose strand of his hair behind his now pointy ears.

Jazz then looked down at herself and squealed in delight. She looked like one of the Dunedain! She even had a traveling cloak like the one Aragorn wore when he first met the hobbits in the movie! Then she noticed what was strapped to her side...

"A sword!" She shrieked, looking between him and the blade in a frantic hysteria. "You gave me a SWORD!"

"Well why not?" Darien asked in a huff, placing his hands on his hips in a feminine type way. If Jazz weren't so freaked out about the sword at her hip, she would have laughed. "You're going to be fighting evil as a ranger so you need a ranger weapon!"

"B-But..." Jazz continued. "I can't even _use_ a sword!"

"I'll teach you then."

"...You can sword fight?" This guy was getting stranger by the minute, Jasmine mused to herself.

"Well of course I can! I had a swordsman as my charge a long time ago and I happened to pick up a few tricks." The angel continued with a slight air of pride about him. Her was adept at _something _for once.

"Well erm... Ok..." Jazz muttered, feeling suddenly shy. She was still trying to get used to the whole having an angel thing. He seemed like a normal guy and actually looked the part now that his wings had vanished. "That's fine I guess..."

"Come now... No need to be so worried about this." He said, smiling and putting a comforting arm around her small shoulders. "I'll look after you."

Jazz's face went suddenly hot and she found the dirt road quite interesting all of the sudden. She wasn't used to a guy putting so much attention on her. She was normally that wallflower in the back of the room, ignored and content to be ignored. Now all of the sudden some guy, who happens to be an angel—_her _angel—with super cool powers, is thrown into her life—_afterlife—_and ready to protect her from everything. It was like some cheesy romance novel... She heaved a sigh and finally just allowed Darien to lead her along the road in silent companionship, slowly relaxing enough to attempt small conversation with him.

"How old are you exactly?" She queried, looking up at him through her bangs. Just because she was going to talk to him didn't mean her self-consciousness was going to disappear...

"Six hundred and forty-seven years old." He answered immediately.

"..."

"What?"

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked..."

&&&

"How could he, a hobbit of all things, be that lucky?"

The creature paced heatedly and his purple eyes blazed in rage. That was an unexpected turn of events for him. The hobbit looked so weak and helpless that he should have been an easy meal. He had gone over the confrontation over and over before acting on his need for food! There shouldn't have been any fault!

He hated miscalculating.

"Damn him! How _dare_ he do this to me?" The man continued to hiss to the night air as if it held all the answers to his failure.

It was unthinkable that something as defenseless as a hobbit—a _hobbit_ of all things—would be able to cause him to retreat like a coward. How he hated that hobbit...

"Though it wasn't truly the hobbit himself..." He reasoned, slowing his pace to a halt as he thought aloud once more. "Just the possible threat of that annoyingly happy Tom Bombadil..."

Of course. Tom Bombadil. How he hated that man. That man was too much of a danger to him to be taken lightly. Killing a friend of his would definitely put himself at risk of the jolly man's ferocious anger. As he had said before, he was not a suicidal person.

"Especially practically under his own roof so to say..." He mused aloud, realization slowly dawning. "His own roof... Of course!"

That was the answer to his problem! He would follow this hobbit and enact his revenge in a safer location. Probably in the dead of night in some unknown forest region where the help of Tom Bombadil was out of the question... The prospect was oh so tempting that it made him grin in sadistic delight.

"Perfect..."

His malicious musings were suddenly interrupted when a familiar smell invaded his senses. He started in surprise and turned in the direction of the smell.

"What is...? I thought that girl left. Wait..." He took a deep breath of the scent and paused, analyzing it further. "That's not the girl from before..."

He quickly walked through the trees, following the scent to its source. It was laced with confusion, he noted, and a slight hint of fear. Maybe he could eat her... He was still hungry after all.

He burst through the last bit of trees and stared.

Sitting in the middle of a dark clearing was another girl, wearing the same style of clothing the other one was. They even were the same age, he noticed. He also noticed that when her eyes fell on him, the smell of fear practically leaped to new records.

"W-What are you!" She shrieked, scampering away from him.

"Please keep your voice down. My ears are very sensitive." He hissed, rubbing them tenderly. He then noticed the girl's clothes were very... strange... Covered in chains...

"Are you a prisoner of some kind?" He asked, kneeling in front of her and fingering one of the chains.

"No..." She answered hesitantly, scooting away from him even more. "It's called Goth."

"Goth? What kind of word is that? Some form of elf tongue?" He was starting to become interested in this girl. She was so different than the ones he came across in the cities he passed through. She also has not tried to run for the nearest town...yet anyways. And what was this "Goth" thing?

"Elf tongue?" The girl asked incredulously. "What are you talking about?"

"Is it the common language then? Or maybe dwarfish..." He speculated, slightly annoyed that she wouldn't give him a plain answer. He should definitely eat her.

"It's English... and it's a clothing style..." She said, a tad more confidence in her voice. This was probably because he hadn't killed her yet..._Yet_ mind you.

"Never heard of it." He answered bluntly.

"Well what do you mean by dwarfish? Where do you think you are, dude? Middle Earth?" She mocked with a snort of suppressed laughter.

"Why of course."

Oh great. Now she's staring like he was insane. He had just told her the truth is all! In fact he was starting to think _she _was the insane one. This made him sad. He didn't eat insane people—too low in fiber and way too high in crazy. "What? I was telling the truth, girl!"

"M-Middle... here!... but I was... and I..." She babbled, looking around and making wild gestures as she tried to explain herself.

"Girl! GIRL! Stop your rambling and be quiet!" He snapped, standing. "I have other business to attend to. You can do whatever you wish."

What a strange girl, he thought as he strolled away towards where he last left the hobbit's trail. She had bizarre clothing and an eccentric air about her. And why was she in all black? Maybe she was a mercenary...

"Excuse me..." A meek voice came from behind him.

He turned and glared at the girl. "Why are you following me?"

"Well... I just..." She muttered.

"Spit it out, girl!"

"I don't have any place to stay!" She yelled back. "I have no idea where I am and you seem to, even though your really strange looking with those fake wings and tail and stuff and even though I don't believe your stupid joke about Middle Earth..."

"You want to come with me anyway." He finished for her, crossing his arms.

"Yeah..."

He was shocked to say the least. No one had ever willingly wanted his company for anything before... "What is your name, girl?"

She looked up in surprise and badly hidden hope. "Tessa... Tess for short..."

"Well, Tess... You can come with me. But only until I reach the next town, then you're on your own." He muttered, starting to walk again. He hated strays when he couldn't eat them...Oh well it would only be to the town and he was heading that direction anyways. He could always dump her on her own should she become too much of an annoyance...or hang her from a tree for the crows...

"OK!" She cried happily, jogging slightly to match his slightly larger pace. "So um... what's your name?"

"My name...?" This girl was just full of surprises.

"Yeah. I want to know your name." She repeated, peering up at him. "Well?"

"My name is... Adonai."

&&&

P.A.: WOW! I finished finally! Now people will stop bugging me about this.

Ceke: You brought Tessa back! WEEEEEEEEE!

Cean: How very kind of you.

P.A.: -.- Zzzzzzzzz...

All: o.O

Ceke: R&R PLEASE!


	4. Falling to Pieces

-1P.A.: I'm trying to go on an updating spree because I got some new editors and they can actually inflict bodily harm upon me if I slack off. I need to make contracts. -.-

Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

_Clink clink clink._

That noise would drive him insane, Adonai reasoned. Step, after step, after step it went on, each little plink making him involuntarily twitch in annoyance. Who knew such an annoying thing could be caused by a mere three steps?

"Girl."

_Clink clink clink._

"Yeah?"

There it was again! That infuriating, repetition of nerve-wracking noise, grinding a headache into his skull. He was approaching the hobbit's trail again and this sound was fraying his attention between two things. Killing the source of the sound—namely the irritating little girl he was escorting to the next town for purposes still eluding his reasoning—and resuming his hunt for the arrogant little creature who was too lucky for his own good. He was obviously going to keep the latter in his highest priority.

Regaining pride that was lost to nearly unbearable amounts of humiliation was _always _his top priority.

"I'm in the middle of a hunt. Keep yourself quiet." The man ordered, hands twitching with the thought of that girl's neck in them, snapping it in two. The thought did wonders for his mood unsurprisingly.

"Oh, sure thing." He didn't like how she sounded mocking when she said that but quiet was quiet. He allowed himself a semblance of a smile and focused his mind on working out a hunting plan sure to succe-

_Clink clink clink._

"GIRL!" He rounded on her with his fiercest glare. "What part about _quiet_ is impossible for you to understand?!" His fingers twitched as he fought the urge to rip out her throat. Why he was restraining himself was also a mystery to him. With a large amount of mental anguish and horror, he briefly acknowledged the possibility of him going soft. A few images of burning orphanages filled with kittens assured him this was not so and he allowed himself to return to the matter at hand. The girl was making that annoying sound called "her voice."

Tessa looked up at him in surprise, seemingly unaffected by his anger and not noticing his complete lapse of attention after his statement. "It's only my chains! I can't take them off! I feel so naked without them..."

Completely bypassing the utter confusion and weirdness that last statement made him feel, the red-haired man growled, "You will be silent."

"You can't tell me what to do!" She shouted, far too loud for the situation at hand and his sensitive ears. "Besides, asshole, if you're hunting, where's your gun, huh?"

"...What is a gun?" Adonai asked, cocking his head to the side and ignoring the insult she spat at him. He didn't know what it meant anyways.

Tess's expression went from fury to bewildered confusion at his question. A few minutes of awkward silence passed between them before she finally got the presence of mind to speak. "You are a freak."

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Adonai returned to walking. He was _not _going to indulge in mindless quarrels with an idiot girl. The sun had already risen and he had better things to occupy his time with, like hunting down a meddlesome hobbit and ripping his arms off to watch him suffer.

"Jerk." Tess muttered, falling back into pace behind him, making no effort to halt the jingling of her chains. Why did she have to be kidnapped, dragged out to the woods unconscious, and dumped there to be found by the biggest jackass in the entire world who liked to prance about wearing a cheap monster costume and pretending he was from Middle Earth? That was her current theory anyways... She'd think of a better one once she got a hold of a phone...

Adonai wasn't one to be baited into childish name calling so he ignored her once more and sniffed the air experimentally. Underneath the normal smells of morning dew and decomposing undergrowth he caught a faint trace of a scent that made all his animalistic rage burn in his chest. It was a dank smell, layered with must and death. It was old and became more suffocating the closer they came to the tree line.

Barrow-wights.

It would just be his luck to come to a vacant field with a dead pony laying in it but no hobbits because they had been spirited away by those dreadful creatures. He quickened his pace, cursing under his breath, the foul language of Mordor flying from his mouth in fury.

"H-Hey! Creepy cosplaying guy! Wait for me!" Tess called, dashing after him and trying not to catch her chains on any of the damn plants surrounding them. Maybe she would take them off after all...

Adonai didn't slow until he broke through the trees to encounter empty Barrow-Downs and one extremely dead hobbit pony. He stood there in silence, looking at the scene and waiting for fate to start laughing at her good joke on him. Any minute now...

"...Is that a dead horse?!"

Oh wait... She had been laughing at him this entire time. Silly him.

"Why is there a dead horse here?!"

"Oh be quiet, girl." He breathed softly, resting his hands on his hips and closing his eyes. He waited all night for this and the hobbit was already dead. Fantastic.

"Do you _not_ see the dead horse lying over there or are you just that heartless!?" The teen cried, rounding on him only to see him no longer paying attention. "HEY!"

His eyes snapped open, but not in response to her exclamation. Distantly, as if it were coming from the deep mines of dwarves, he heard somebody singing. It was a nice, masculine voice, laced with fear but backed by courage. He narrowed his eyes as he concentrated on picking words from the lilting melody but it was unintelligible...He suddenly got the feeling that he wasn't in the safest place at the moment, out in the open as he was.

This was only reinforced when the first song ended and was answered by another.

"_Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow! Bright blue is his jacket-_"

"..." Adonai sighed and looked at the ground wearily. Fate's laugh echoed in his ears. "Perfect."

"What the fuck is that?" Tess asked loudly, looking in the direction of the second sound. "Sounds like one of the kids from my school on too much heroin during choir."

"...What?" Adonai asked slowly, not understanding a word that had flowed out of her mouth.

"_His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster_!"

"What am I doing?!" Adonai asked himself in disbelief, grabbing the girl and throwing her over his shoulder. "We have to get out of sight!"

"H-Hey! Put me down, you perverted fuckfork!"

Adonai once again blew off her strange insults in favor of dashing to the nearest tree and effortlessly digging his claws into the bark to scale to the top just as Bombadil's footsteps reached the edge of his field of hearing. Even as he perched on a sturdy branch and set the girl safely next to him, she was still screaming and risking his discovery and following obliteration.

"What _are _you!? Some kind of demented cosplaying lumberjack!?"

The red-haired man growled and covered her mouth with his clawed hand, holding his breath as a small breath of wind ruffled his hair and leaves as Tom passed beneath them, treading over the same grass they had been standing on moments before. If he cast one purple eye over his shoulder, he could barely see a spot of blue running across the Downs through the thick cover of leaves.

Muffled shouting forcefully drew his attention away from his hawk-like observation of the jolly man and onto an extremely angry young girl. He frowned and didn't remove his hand even though that was what she was clearly demanding with her eyes. There was too much risk. "I need you to stop talking and keep quiet..." He felt a great satisfaction with his efforts when she stopped shouting into his palm and fumed angrily. Still, he figured if he removed his hand she would have another outburst and jeopardize him. "Now...I need you to promise not speak another word above a whisper...We're both in serious danger."

"_It seems more like _you're _the one afraid of this danger_." Her eyes said to him, narrowing into slits.

"Well I am in danger of being killed by the happy man who ran by and _you_ are in danger of being pushed out of this tree. Are we clear?"

"_Very._" Her eyes said after one quick glance at the very distant ground.

"Good." He chirped, removing his hand and twisting around on the branch to stare out at the little blue speck that was Tom. It disappeared for a few moments before reappearing with another, smaller speck. Adonai sighed as a small breeze blew a very familiar scent to him. His hobbit was alive... Good. Now he could kill him.

"Adonai...?"

"Yes?" He breathed, turning to look over his shoulder at her.

"I've come to the conclusion that this is all a really far out dream and you're nothing but a figment of my imagination." She stated quietly, "So I'm going to go to sleep in my dream seeing as nothing else in this screwed up thing is waking me up. So bye-bye, Adonai."

She leaned back against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. So she was in a very weird dream. Perfect. She cracked open an eye to stare at her dream guide as he cast her one last strange look before turning to watch the horizon. She got the feeling he was looking for something there besides his "prey". Oh well. Not her problem. She was going back to reality, baby!

Adonai's ears twitched as her breathing evened out as she relaxed into a deep sleep. She must really trust him or she was a complete fool. He smirked at the latter. Fool it was. Now... "Time to solve my small problem..."

His hand reached towards her neck.

&&&

"Finally..." Jazz said in relief as they came upon Bree. They had been walking all night. She was so exhausted that the sight of the town was a welcome relief and provided her with the right amount of excited energy. She looked up at the high walls surrounding the town and grinned. "This is so cool..."

"Yeah..." Darien answered, following her gaze to the less-than-magnificent walls. They were just weathered wood. He didn't see what was such a big deal. All he had actually cared about for the past few hours on the road was the possibility of a ring wraith appearing. Those things scared him...

Shuddering and pushing that thought to the side, he went on to think about what they would do now. They could probably enter through the front gates. They were inconspicuous enough. Well...

Jazz blinked as Darien lifted her hood up and over her head, shadowing her face. "Hey! What are you doing?" She reached to tug it back down but he grabbed her hand, effectively stopping her from doing so.

"I'm making sure no one gets it in their heads to take advantage of you." The angel said with a stern look. 

"A guardian angel to the end..." She muttered, giving him a small glare.

"It is my sworn duty!" He cried dramatically, giving her a grin and a helpless shrug despite. Some habits died hard.

Shaking her head, she walked along side him towards the nearest gate, "Fine, fine... Let's just move... We've been walking forever and my feet are starting to hurt really bad..."

In the few short hours she'd known him, she was already starting to open up her companion. Maybe it was because there wasn't much opening up to do. He already knew everything about her it seemed. He even picked her a daisy on their way up the road, saying they were her favorite. Normally she'd say it was creepy that he knew so much but it was kind of like having a diary with her that talked back.

"My aren't you an odd visitor..." Darien and Jazz looked through the small hatch in the gate at the squinting guard.

"How so?" The angel asked, scratching his head and feigning confusion. They probably did look weird.

"Haven't seen an elf heading through the town this direction before...They all head the other way." The guard explained suspiciously, eyeing Jazz now. She just shifted her weight awkwardly from one foot to the other and stared off to the side, pretending to be enthralled with a pothole.

"Can't imagine why." Darien said in an oblivious sort of voice that laced with annoyance. He wasn't nearly as tired as Jazz but he didn't want to stand outside the gate all morning. He wanted breakfast!

The guard took them as no threat to him or the town, so he opened the gate for them. Jazz clutched the hood about her face a bit closer as she shuffled past him, eyes trained on the feet of the angel walking before her. Was Darien really serious about what he said? She better just let him do his thing...

"I reckon it's something to do with those black riders."

"Black riders?" Darien asked, using the same oblivious voice, "Haven't seen them." He shot a sidelong look at Jazz who shook her head and motioned for him to continue talking. "Are they that bad?"

"Horrible things." The guard growled, closing the gate. "Gives me shivers thinking about them."

"How often do they come around?"

The guard's face hardened and he returned to his seat next to the fence. "Look here. You shouldn't stick your nose too far into such matters. Just take your quiet little friend and leave."

Sighing and sending him an unappreciative glare, Darien took Jasmine's hand and led her away from the guard and through the quiet town. "Well that was uneventful."

"Yes..." Jazz muttered, swinging their joined hands slightly in boredom. Darien gave her an amused grin and laced their fingers, aiding her in swinging their hands. She was so amusing. She suddenly came to a halt, forcing him to do the same as she still had his hand in an increasing death grip. "Oh... my..."

"What? What is it?" Darien asked in alarm, looking around the empty streets. He couldn't see anything to cause her to stop except an empty produce stand. 

"It's the Prancing Pony!" She said in an awed whisper.

"Yeah? So?" The angel asked, looking up at the swinging sign of a fat white horse. So it was that pub Frodo stayed at. So what? He then realized Jazz hadn't answered him. "Jazz?" He looked down and realized she wasn't holding his hand anymore and the door to the Prancing Pony was swinging shut. "Damnit!" He slapped a hand over his mouth and looked around. Had anyone heard him curse? He would get demoted to a cherub for such an offence! That was the most embarrassing job! When no angels leapt out of the dark alleys waving little bow and arrows, he allowed himself to sigh in relief. No one had heard him curse. He wouldn't get demoted again. Then he realized Jazz was in a pub alone with sleazy men. "FUCK!"

Inside the pub, Jazz looked around in wonderment. It was better than she imagined! She almost giggled in delight at the thought she was in the _real_ Prancing Pony.

"'Scuse me, sir. Can I help you with something?"

She blinked and looked around at Barliman Butterbur before returning to her observing. There were even guys singing songs! And dwarves! HOBBITS! She was going to faint...

"Sir?" This time she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Jazz turned; outraged someone would think her a man. Then she paused as it hit her. Well this is what Darien wanted right? He said for her to keep her identity hidden. She grinned a bit and gave a small wave to the fat innkeeper. "Hello..." She said in a soft whisper. It was hard to distinguish her gender with this voice she reasoned and she wasn't very good at man voices either. Drama club had never been her thing but she could always wing it. "Sorry... Didn't hear you..."

Butterbur raised an eyebrow at her. What he thought was a man was awfully short to be one. It was a bit too tall for a hobbit though... An extremely tall hobbit? He shook himself free of those thoughts and smiled down at him, "What can I do for you?"

"A room would be nice... For two." Jazz jumped at the hand on her shoulder and shot a startled look at a flustered Darien, barely registering his words to Butterbur. She heaved a small sigh that she wasn't about to be abducted but then paused when her angel's words actually sunk in. They had no money. How were they going to pay for this room? "And two meals as well."

"Alright. Would you like to eat dinner in your room?" Barliman asked.

"No...!" Jazz said before Darien could answer. "We'll just take dinner there..." She pointed towards the common room where another loud song was starting. She wasn't about to pass that up. She had waited her entire life—quite literally—to be in a situation like this. Nothing was going to stop her now. Not even the Nazgul.

"Right, NOB!" The cheery little hobbit came at the large call and smiled warmly at them. Jazz returned the smile and resisted the urge to hug him. She had seen her first hobbit. They were so cool! They were just like children with furry feet. Barliman interrupted her thoughts and continued to address the hobbit. "Show these fellows to a table."

"Yes, sir." Nob led Jazz away but she noticed Darien stayed behind to speak with the innkeeper. She paused to call to him but he turned before she could and smiled, waving for her to follow Nob. She sighed and turned, following the hobbit again. What could Darien be up to? Even though she was getting to know him better, he could still be a complete mystery.

"Here you are, sir."

"Thank you..." She said softly, sitting in the chair Nob motioned to. At least her disguise held up, for now at least. She rested her forehead against her palm and heaved a loud sigh. Things were moving so fast it felt odd to relax now. She needed to sort out everything. She died. Was she ok with that? She looked for any feelings and only found deep regret. So much stuff she never did... People she would never see again... _Tess_... She wanted her best friend back...

Her gaze drifted up to her _new_ friend. He continued to converse with Barliman about something she couldn't hear over the din of the men around her. By the look on his face it was serious. She stared at him languidly, briefly thinking she was glad that she wasn't alone but she still wished Tess was there with her.

A guardian angel. Now that was strange. She never once thought someone was looking out for her. And he was a boy. You'd think they'd have something against that, seeing as he was working for heaven. He was really nice and thoughtful too. Were all angels like that? She'd like to think she was special for once and think he was one of a kind.

Ok onto the third thing, Middle Earth. How had THAT happened? She looked at the book in her lap. She looked around at the merrymaking crowd and smiled. It was just like the book described. Speaking of which... She opened the book and looked at where she left off. She almost squealed in delight seeing the Fog on the Barrow-Downs chapter was clear and bright. So Frodo makes it to... she flipped the pages to the next blurry spot. He makes it to Bree at least.

So... They would stay in Bree and watch out for the hobbit. Then they would make sure they teamed up with Strider and headed for Rivendell. Simple and not threatening to the plot at all. She leaned back in her chair, staring at the smoky ceiling. So according to her knowledge, Frodo would be at the Prancing Pony that night to meet the ranger and have his little fall. She would run by her plan with Darien and see what they should do after that. Jasmine nodded in satisfaction and sat up properly in her chair, eyes briefly landing on the text of her book. Wait a second. She leaned forward and squinted at the clear words. Who the hell was Adonai...?

"Why haven't you joined in?" A voice asked from next to her. 

The book snapped shut as she turned in surprise. The sight she was greeted with almost caused her to drop the book. Sitting next to her at the dark table was none other than Strider. Jazz's knuckles turned white as she clutched the book to her chest in fear and nervousness. She should have been having a fangirl attack. She should have coolly brushed off his question with something witty and disarming. Instead, she only stared at the rugged ranger and thought, "_Had he seen the book_?"

"I am sorry to have startled you." He said from under his own cloak hood, staring down at her.

"No...Quite fine..." She mumbled, tugging her hood a bit further down. Where was Darien to save her now? She felt so naked under his piercing gray eyes.

"I just noticed you were not sitting with your companion." His gaze turned towards the crowded center of the room. There, surrounded by people, was an obviously embarrassed Darien. Apparently the group hadn't talked with an elf in some time and they were anxious for news. She hoped he wouldn't let something slip because of his lack of knowledge in all the things that had to do with elves. If only he had come straight over...she could have backed him up and had her _own_ back up for this chance encounter...

"Oh... Well...I prefer the quiet." She said, waving a hand and brushing off any continuation of that line of conversation. It was true, though. She didn't like being center of attention at all. It was awful in her opinion. So many eyes looking for faults...

"I see..." He said just as soft, watching Darien start talking slowly and apparently to the table. Seems he was just as bad as Jazz when it came to crowds. "I thought you were his wife." He admitted.

"Wife?!" She slapped a hand over her mouth, horrified she had practically shouted that to the entire inn. She stared over at him and was glad he couldn't see her flaming face. She and Darien married... Now that would have been odd. She was only seventeen for god's sake! And he had seen through her disguise. That was disappointing... Well he was a ranger, she reasoned. She was kind of glad he hadn't thought her a man like everyone else, though. He had to have _some_ "mad ranger skillz" as Tess would say.

"I suppose not then." He said in amusement, watching her become flustered.

"N-No... We're just traveling together." She explained, staring down at the table and sneaking looks at him every so often as she spoke, "He thought I should stay quiet about being a woman. He's very protective and not very trusting."

Strider nodded again and lit his pipe. Jasmine gave a small sigh. The smell of his pipe reminded her of her dad. He always used to smoke an ebony pipe as he read the paper in the lounge. She idly wondered where her meal was, anything to get her mind off the track it was heading down. She was feeling disoriented and out of place. In truth she was. She felt the homesick setting in and placed her face in her hand, trying not to cry, especially in front of Aragorn. That would certainly make her feel more ridiculous than she already did.

The ranger seemed to sense her mood sink. His eyes once again fell on her and he moved to stand. He had obviously said or done something wrong and had upset her. "I am bothering you I see. I shall take my leave."

"I'm fine, Aragorn." Her eyes snapped open as she realized what she had let slip out. Oh... shit. Judging by how the other had frozen beside her meant that she had indeed spoken that aloud. Crap... She had been hoping she had only thought that. Tess was right. She did have a big mouth. She needed to look into having her vocal chords removed.

"What did you say?" He asked softly.

Jazz looked around for escape. Not that she would be able to escape from the greatest ranger ever. She would give a fine effort though. She might actually make it a few inches before he killed her. Her eyes frantically searched the crowd for something—anything really—to use in her hastily prepared escape plan that really hadn't even begun to be formed. A small squeak escaped her lips as Aragorn's hand clasped her shoulder, holding her in place and preventing her from just fleeing in desperation.

"How did you know my name?" He growled, threat dripping from every word. Jazz started to tremble in his grip. He thought she was an enemy spying on him. That had to be it. Fantastic. If only she knew how to use her sword so she might be able to fight her way out of here—yeah right—or something completely convenient happened at this very moment in time that she could use to make a grand escape like in all the book-

"Here's your dinner, sir." Nob said cheerfully, walking over with two tottering plates of food and drink

"Thank you." Jazz said, grabbing the plates from the startled hobbit and chucking them into the equally startled ranger. She ducked out of the other's loosened hold and vaulted the table, running for the door. She saw a flurry of movement to her right and all the candles in the room went out, sending them into confused darkness. She knew it had to be Darien and thanked God for giving her such a dependable angel.

As she stumbled out of the inn into the street, her blue eyes tried to adjust to the rapid change from dim smoke to bright morning light before Darien joined her, grasping her hand. "Let's get out of here!"

She ran to keep up with him, not knowing where they were heading or caring that her feet felt like they were about to fall off, only knowing she already screwed up everything. She looked over her shoulder, surprised to see her long blonde hair flowing behind her. Jazz reasoned she must have slipped out of her cloak in her haste to escape. Damn. She had liked that cloak too.

As she turned to face forward again, time seemed to slow down. Standing near an alleyway was a very sinister looking man. He looked like your stereotypical thug off the street mixed with a very ugly orc. But he wasn't the one who drew her gaze. It was the person half in the alleyway caught her attention like a hook caught a fish. He was completely cloaked in the shadow of the alley, and yet she knew he watched them run. She could feel his gaze pierce her flesh and bone to her very core but couldn't wrench her own gaze from him. Before she could think more about it, she and Darien had turned the corner and he was gone from sight, along with his frightening watching eyes.

They didn't stop running until they were out of another gate and out of sight from the town, running down the main road. They would have kept running if Jazz had been able to keep standing. Her feet were on strike. Falling to the dirt panting, Jazz looked up at Darien. "Thanks..."

"It's alright... My...sworn duty." He flopped next to her and ran a hand over his face. He didn't like running. He liked flying. Flying meant not using your legs. He watched the sun hang lazily in the sky and sighed, closing his eyes against the bright light. What a day...

"I'm sorry I screwed up, Darien." Jazz muttered, pulling her knees to her chest. Now she felt even worse. At least she had grabbed her book on the way out.

"It's alright... I got some food from Barliman in my pack." At Jazz's confused glance he shrugged and opened his eyes to stare at her wearily. "In case ring wraiths attacked, you know?"

"Good..." Jazz reached up a hand and ran it through her tangled hair, trying to brush it with her dusty fingers. "We could go back..." She froze in the middle of forming a second plan. She touched one ear. Then she touched the other. Her face went from shocked and confused to utterly horror-struck. "Oh...my... god."

"Don't take the lord's name in vai-" Darien started offhandedly before he was cut off by a piercing shriek from his charge. "JESUS CHRIST! What's wrong!?"

Jazz frantically waved her arms. "Why are my ears pointy!?" Indeed they were. They were much longer and pointier than elf ears, sticking through her hair. "I am a ranger! I'm not supposed to have pointy ears! Wait...These aren't elf ears either!"

Darien rubbed the back of his head, feeling guilt sweep up on him in waves. He was hoping the effects wouldn't appear so soon... He needed more time... but he guessed he wasn't going to be able to have that. "Oh yes... I was wondering when I'd have to tell you..." He whispered, letting his hand drop to the dirt.

"Tell me what?!" Jazz demanded, voice high-pitched with near-hysteria. What could possibly be wrong with her? As if her life wasn't already destroyed, now she was sick or something!

"Well... I'm glad we caught the tail end of a full moon. And it's also cloudy." He started, looking up into the sky. Through the thick clouds he couldn't see the fainter image of the moon and was relieved. "A waning gibbous I think it was last night."

"So?! What does that have to do with anything?" She grabbed his front, giving him a shake to snap him out of his own rambling. Her blue eyes locked with his emerald, pleading with him to just tell her and not leave her like she was, desperate and in the dark about something that was terribly wrong. "Tell me, Darien..._Please_..."

"You're cursed, Jazz." Her hands fell limply from his shirt and he could no longer look at her as his guilt overwhelmed his heart. "_I _cursed you."

&&&

Aragorn sat in his corner table again, smoking his pipe. Everything had calmed down in the time following the girl's wild departure from the building. Of course no one besides him knew that it was a woman that caused the uproar. He would have followed her but he didn't think that she were a threat now that she was exposed for the spy she was. She was long gone by now... He didn't get a look at her face but...

He fingered the cloak sitting on the seat next to him. It was a cloak exactly like his in every detail except length. That meant she was a ranger gone bad or she stole the clothes of one as a disguise. Either way, Aragorn decided he would keep it with him for now.

He had a feeling he'd see that girl again.

&&&

Tess awoke slowly, blinking at the afternoon light. She was still tired so she hoped her evil parents would let her sleep in a little longer before they dragged her to her therapist or something... With a large yawn, she rolled over to go back to sleep and only succeeded in falling off the branch. Luckily, her flailing hand grabbed the branch before she could do much falling and she was able to haul herself back up onto the branch with much effort.

"God damnit..." She breathed, shaking and looking over at the end of the branch. There was her guide, cold and silent as ever and totally _not_ gone like the dream. He turned his bright purple eyes on her and shook his head in what seemed to be annoyance.

"Here." Tess blinked as a bundle of clothes was shoved into her arms unceremoniously.

"What the hell?" She lifted them up and looked them over in confusion and slight suspicion. A plain white shirt and pants that cut off around her mid-calf. Nothing too threatening about them. She set them down and looked over at him again. Strapped across his back was a long metal spear that he hadn't had when Tess had fallen asleep to get rid of the demented dream world. "Where'd you get this stuff?"

"I flew to the next town and bought it." He replied. Really it hadn't been much. A three to four hour journey at most with his wings. Luckily she had slept through the entire thing.

"Really? You _left_ me?!" She yelled in outrage.

"I never said I would stay by your side and protect you." Adonai said with a smirk. She hadn't noticed yet but it would take about five more seconds.

5.

"That was nice-"

4.

The rustling of cloth. She was changing so he politely turned forward.

3.

"-of you to get me new clothes."

2.

"Oh really?"

1.

"Yea-MY BRACELETS!" There was some more frantic movement behind him. He smirked wider, savoring the moment. "MY COLLAR! MY CHAINS! Where are they?!"

"Well I had to get money for your new clothes _some _way." Adonai said lightly, looking at his claws. He loved getting revenge. Revenge: The gift to yourself that keeps on giving...

"...You... SOLD my stuff?!" Tess screeched, causing several nearby birds to take flight.

"Exactly. I suggest you get changed quickly. I am going to go catch breakfast." Before Tess could say anything he took flight in search of those departed birds, leaving her to silent fuming.

She came to the conclusion that this was no dream, but in fact hell. Adonai was simply Satan.

Much more logical than her earlier theories.

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P.A.: Done. Took forever. -.- A few things in this chapter. Darien was indeed demoted before. From what and why comes later. He's such a horrible sinful angel isn't he? Second is the man in the alley was Adonai selling the bracelets. You'll see why it affected Jazz so much next chapter. Third is I feel bad for throwing food at Aragorn. Really. I do. Not.

R&R please.


	5. Cursed

P.A.: Since I couldn't think of anything remotely funny for Tsuki Takes Over I decided to skip that part of the cycle and just write this.

Kenshin: How thoughtful.

P.A.: Psh. At least I have some awesome new TECHNO!

Kenshin: -.- You're going to have a rave aren't you...

P.A.: YES! ONWARD!

Disclaimer: I do not own LOTR.

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"You're cursed, Jazz. _I_ cursed you."

Jazz stared at him in confusion, hands limply lying at her side in the dust. Cursed...? What did he mean by _cursed_?

Darien continued to avoid looking at his charge, sighing heavily and looking up the road, searching for a way to break the entire truth to the young girl. Her life had already become so twisted and now it was his fault once more that it was spiraling even farther out of control. He was such a failure as an angel...He really should be demoted again...

"Darien... Tell me what's wrong." Jazz demanded softly, her voice stronger than she felt at the moment. "Why am I like this?"

"Do you remember... back in the clearing when I told you how I tried to save you from the truck?" The angel asked quietly, drawing an aimless doodle in the dirt to further prevent himself from looking into her most likely accusing eyes.

"Yes... You pushed me." She whispered, "Saved me."

"There is a _reason_ we angels aren't allowed to touch our charges." Darien growled mainly to himself as if he were repeating the rule to reinforce it. "I broke the rule."

"What reason?" Jazz questioned. She could tell Darien was taking it just as hard as her and did not want to blame him for this mishap as he was. She couldn't find it in her to penalize him for doing what he thought was right. That would be far crueler than anything she was capable of doing.

"When we angels touch our hosts, our powers are... transferred and used _through_ them." The boy explained, letting his hand still in its drawing as he explained. "It's what you humans would call 'miracles'. Those were simply angels working through a human to perform an act of holiness."

"So... You did this with me."

"Yes...and no." He admitted guiltily. "I was too slow. When I touched you, my powers entered your body, right as your life _left_ your body. In a fit of desperation to save you, my powers took control and managed to retain roughly half of your life force before transporting us here, a place that was far from harm, I guess. Maybe it was because the book was there or maybe some third party in the works, trying to save both of us, but because of my powers we're in this mess in the first place."

"So...Why am I still alive if I only had half of my life force?" The teenager asked, cocking her head to the side and pushing a strand of her hair behind her pointy ear, yanking her hand away as it brushed the appendage and shuddering. Even if she did not blame the angel for this, she was still frightened of it.

"Apparently my powers decided to spread out in search of suitable life force you could feed off of, like a parasite." He hated using that word but it was the most accurate one. "And... it found one as you can probably guess."

"It wasn't a squirrel was it?" The girl questioned jokingly, but with a small amount of wariness. She did not want to be part rodent.

Darien allowed himself a soft smile before it broke and faded as he reminded himself he had no right to be smiling. "No... Do you remember the lunar wraith I told you about?"

"Lunar...Oh no... Y-You're joking..." She muttered, standing and throwing her arms to her sides. She wanted the squirrel right now... "I-Impossible..."

"No... You show all the characteristics of one... There must have been one nearby and your life force attached to it like a life preserver...Maybe because it was the strongest being around...They are also known for their notoriously long lives. I doubt my powers would want to attach you to something that would die in a year."

"So that means...I'm..." She looked at her hands, noticing her nails had grown considerably in length since she last glanced at them.

"There's a lunar wraith out there somewhere... and your life force is bound with his."

&&&

Tess picked at the berries Adonai brought back for her, fuming. She wasn't too interested in the other..._food_ he had returned with. Raw bird wasn't too appealing. He didn't seem to mind though as he ate nearly five of them. She didn't think too much of it. He must have been from Europe or something weird like that. Hell, Japan was famous for eating raw fish.

She also wasn't happy about what he did to her. Selling all her things without her permission! What a prick! She continued to fume silently as she watched him. He was also ignoring her completely—as he seemed to be prone to doing—intent on watching the Barrow-Downs below them. Happy Singing Dude had pulled a bunch of midgets out of a hole about an hour ago before running off. Tess hoped it was for some clothes seeing as the midgets were content to run around naked but she wasn't really appreciating the sight.

"Prepare to move." Adonai ordered, not turning towards her at all. He had turned from his prey once before and he had almost lost him. Good thing Bombadil could actually be useful for something besides a huge headache. He ignored Tess's whine about climbing down from the tree and let his gaze lose focus and blur as he went deeper into his thoughts.

He had seen the girl in Bree. The female lunar wraith. It was odd, running into her again. She had even looked over at him. Had she smelled him? Or was it simply coincidence? It had been so long since he'd seen a wraith, let alone a female. He focused his gaze on the hobbit who had eluded him the night before. Was this creature really worth passing up the chance to be around his own species again? It _had_ been so long...

"Happy Singing Dude is back." Tess murmured under her breath, making the wraith smirk.

Indeed the man had returned with clothes and ponies for the hobbits. Adonai narrowed his purple eyes and watched, catching snippets of the faraway conversation, his ears twitching slightly. Prancing Pony... He knew where that was. Good drinks. Tasty patrons. He'd be able to drop this girl as soon as they arrived there as well. The day was looking up.

The hobbits were on the move again, bidding farewell to Bombadil and alerting Adonai that he must leave his perch for safer cover. He dropped from the tree silently, lowering himself to all fours. Tess watched as he flattened himself as close to the ground as possible, retracting his fake wings against his body somehow. Must have been strings or something. As she watched him pad away silently she considered her choice to trust him as a guide. He was obviously out of his mind.

A rock connected with her arm, making her yelp in pain and ending her thoughts. She glared down at the winged nutcase who had paused a few yards away when he realized she hadn't been following. She quickly descended the tree and followed him, hunched over towards the ground like he was. The teen didn't want the other to freak on her for "ruining his hunt".

They followed the midgets for several hours and by that time the sun was starting to set and Tess's back was starting to ache. She wasn't meant for this hunting thing. Adonai, however, looked like he had been born to stalk through the shadows of the trees in search of prey. Even though he had the bulky fake wings adorning his back he moved with graceful ease through the dense undergrowth, barely making a sound. This crazy guy had obviously done this before.

Unbeknownst to the teenage human, she was right. He had done this before, numerous times in fact. He had to eat _somehow_.

"Stop."

Tess almost ran right into the crouched form of Adonai, cursing under her breath. The midgets they were tailing had ridden out of the trees to the road, leaving them to stand in the last few trees of the forest. The four small travelers seemed to be conversing as they stood on the road. Tess strained to hear but was disappointed she couldn't make out the faintest sound. Looking to her guide she realized he could hear exactly what was being said somehow. Must have been the fake ears.

"What are they saying?" She pressed in a soft whisper, poking him in the back. 

"None of your business, girl." 

Tess glared at him and sat back on her heels, watching as the midgets moved away from them up the road.

"We aren't the only ones following them."

"What?" The girl demanded, leaning forward and looking around. "Someone else? Is this like some weird game for you guys? Catch the Midgets?"

"Hmmm..." Adonai hummed to himself, sitting up for the first time that evening. His eyes were not lost in thought as they normally were but were instead following an unseen figure up the road after the hobbits. He sighed softly and finally let his eyes fall on his companion. "This is where we part, girl."

"What! But I'm not at the town yet!" Tess hissed angrily. He was _backstabbing_ psycho! "You said you'd take me to the next town!"

"Just follow the road and you'll find it soon enough." He answered smoothly, standing up once the hobbits were out of sight.

Tess floundered for a few moments, trying to figure out some other reason he had to escort her the entire way. She was a young girl and it was dangerous to walk the road at alone, especially if this was hell or a dream or reality or _whatever_! She couldn't go by herself!

"I have no money! What am I supposed to do! Sleep on the street!" Tess demanded, standing up so he didn't tower over her. He was still a good head taller than she was anyways. Damn her short stature...

He smirked down at her and gave her three soft pats on the head. Speaking to her as if she were a slow child, "I'm _sure_ a girl like you can think of _something_ to do..."

She gave a cry of outrage and took a swing at him, only striking the empty air as he scaled a tree effortlessly. He was at the top in mere moments and with a great beat of his "fake" wings he was in the air and flying away from her.

She lowered her fist slowly and gaped at the slowly shrinking figure in the sky, trying to come up with a theory in her mind to explain why a crazy lumberjack was now flying. Finally, one suitable one popped into her mind and made all the sense in the world...

"It's..._real_..."

Then she fainted.

&&&

The four hobbits were sagging over in their saddles, desperately in need of a large meal, a soft bed, and a few pints.

Frodo, however, kept shooting looks over his shoulders towards the forest they had long ago lost sight of, feeling the malevolent presence that he had encountered on the Barrow-Downs. Taunting purple eyes and clawed hands appeared in his mind's eyes, making him shiver in fear and force his eyes back to the road.

That encounter with the creature—_monster_ was the more fitting word—had scared him terribly. The night in the tomb had driven the encounter from his mind momentarily but then he felt that feeling again. It was the feeling of being watched constantly. He could practically feel the heat of the gaze directed at him, even through the coldness of the rain.

He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of the night watchman. A brief look around showed him he had arrived at the town of Bree. He was so relieved at the sight of those high walls he didn't even notice the feeling of eyes on him disappearing. After a short, guarded dialogue with the watchman, he and his three companions entered, Frodo moving at a slightly faster pace than the others.

The more people he was around, the better.

&&&

Strider entered the Prancing Pony quickly, nodding to Butterbur and heading straight to his dark corner. He sat down heavily and gave a sigh, rubbing his temples. Those hobbits were completely oblivious. They had failed to notice him watching them all the way up the road to the town.

His frown deepened when he remembered exactly what _else_ had been watching them along with him. He had not seen what it was exactly but he had seen something leap up into the trees and into the air from his point farther up the road. He had not seen anything like it before in his life. It climbed like a man but with the speed of a squirrel, and it flew... He also had the sinking feeling the creature knew he was watching and was staking a challenge...

Aragorn sighed, softer this time and pulled out his pipe to have a smoke. Such strange happenings lately. Was it due to the darkness looming on the horizon or mere coincidence? He had stashed the girls cloak in his room that afternoon. He still was not sure of his actions towards the piece of clothing. It was possible, and entirely probable, he would meet that girl again if she was his enemy, but the thought was still not certain. And if she were indeed his enemy he would not take the time to hand the cloak back to her. He watched the smoke from his pipe curl upwards towards the ceiling to join the hazy cloud that always settled there. Maybe he was going insane...

No time to think such things now... the hobbits had entered.

&&&

Tess sighed happily as she finally made it past the irate watchman. She was in Bree now. She had finally woken up in the middle of the road when it had started to rain. With a shiver, she wrapped her arms around herself and frowned. It was still so hard to accept... This was Middle Earth... She had met a monster...She had seen Tom Bombadil and the hobbits... It was her wildest dream and yet it felt more like a nightmare...

She was supposed to be dead and yet here she was walking down the muddy road looking for a place to stay. Adonai hadn't totally abandoned her. She had discovered money in her pockets shortly after starting down the road. She decided that she should quit the horrible thoughts, find an inn, and stay there for as long as she could while trying to find a way out of this harrowing situation. Maybe get back to somewhere normal and not filled with winged assholes. She dodged a horse and cart on her way up the street, eyes drawn upwards in search of the white horse that marked salvation.

Eventually she found it after much aimless wandering through the rainy night and happily threw open the door to enter...only to be nearly knocked over by someone exiting. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry!" The person she ran into cried, looking up at her with big green eyes. "Wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?"

Tess stared at a loss for words at the hobbit. Maybe this wasn't such a terrible situation after all... Finally she snapped out of her daze by his curious look and smiled. "Yeah, I'm Tess."

"I'm Meriadoc Brandybuck, but you can call me Merry." He returned the grin full-heartedly, shaking her offered hand. "Are you staying here tonight?"

"I plan on it." The teenager replied, spirits rising at something great happening to her for once in this lousy day.

"Better hurry. The innkeeper is running out of rooms. Maybe we can have a drink later when I return from my walk." Merry cheerfully answered.

"Alright, Thanks. I'll definitely have a drink with you." She said, watching him walk away before entering the inn with her large smile still stretched on her face. She had talked with Merry... shaken his hand... She mentally slapped herself from the path those fangirlish thoughts were leading her. She needed to focus on more important things at the moment.

She nearly lost her cool again after seeing Butterbur asking her what she wanted. Sure he wasn't nearly as cool as the fellowship or the other characters in the book but simply seeing the forgetful man was amazing. It only furthered her belief in Adonai's words—that this was indeed Middle Earth. Everything she saw was so spectacular and awe invoking.

She didn't lose her smile as Butterbur gave her the key to her room and walked off to find a table to sit at and possibly get food. She paused when she entered the common room, taking it in. It was exactly like the book, which unnerved her instead of lightening her mood. Frodo sat off to the side with a cloaked man she could only assume was Strider. The hobbit was anxiously watching another, obviously Pippin; recount the tale of Bilbo's birthday disappearance.

Exact to the last finely printed detail...

Her lips quirked up in amusement, though, as Frodo jumped in to stop their secret from spilling out to the whole inn, but the humor was short-lived as she saw Pippin's disappointment at being cut off. She felt a pang of sadness, because a sad hobbit was not a pleasant sight to anyone. It was like watching a whipped puppy. It was cute and depressing at the same time.

"Hi." She greeted lazily, sitting next to him. "Nice story. Too bad you couldn't finish."

He looked over at her wide-eyed, not expecting to be approached by anyone since Frodo had all the attention with his song. "Thanks. I'm Peregrin Took. Pippin for short."

"No need to thank me for the truth." She answered, lounging back and eating one of the rolls in a nearby basket. "That hobbit singing is pretty good..."

"Yeah... He's always had a good voice." The young hobbit murmured, swinging his feet idly.

They both jumped at the loud crash. Tess's eyes swung around to the now empty table and felt her stomach sink in dread for the poor hobbits. She had to help them escape suspicion...

Across the room Strider stood up and emptied his pipe in annoyance. Hobbits... why did it have to be hobbits...?

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P.A.: FINALLY! Done. Please shoot me.

Everyone:...

P.A.: FINE! I'll just go...sleep or something! -walks off-

Ceke: -sweatdrop- Sorry for the delay.

Cean: R&R please!


	6. Long Walks and Diversions

P.A.: Oh man... I feel really terrible for not updating in what my editor Yume-chan has informed me is a year... Gah... So now I'm on a huge working spree to get all those forgotten stories over and done with.

Kenshin: —dusty— ...—cough—

P.A.: Anywho I have a **_VERY IMPORTANT_ **thing I need to tell you readers, new and way old. **THIS STORY HAS BEEN REVISED THOROUGHLY! EACH CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN TO VARYING LENGTHS AND SHOULD BE REREAD BY ALL OLD READERS!** The plot line is still the same basic structure and is continuing normally from this point on but just some of the materials, information, or events might have been altered for better flow/sound. So yeah, oldies reread, newbies stay in their happy world and keep reading, kay kay?

Kenshin: —sneeze—

P.A.: So let's get this asthmatic show on the road! ONWARD!

Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. I do own my OCs. Yume-chan owns Tess.

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"He's gone!"

"Disappeared!"

After Frodo's little fall off the table, the Prancing Pony was in an uproar. The little hobbit had fallen from the table and vanished! This was not natural! He had yet to reappear to their startled and searching eyes, which meant ill things to the once merry partiers. Tess knew she had to do something fast if she was going to save her little friends from the metaphorical chopping block. A quick scan of the increasingly rowdy crowd made her think maybe it wasn't such a metaphorical thought after all...

"Dark powers!"

"Magic!"

"Yes!" She shouted, leaping onto the table Frodo had recently vacated via tripping. She grinned at the silent group of people while inwardly hyperventilating. This crowd was almost scarier than the preps back home..._Almost_. "He had a nice trip but we won't see him next fall! Not my hobbits! We'll see him..." She prayed to the only thing she trusted above all things, Twinkies, and pointed to the place next to Strider. "NOW!"

She breathed a sigh of relief when Frodo appeared exactly where she pointed. Thank you, Twinkies! She grinned at the bewildered faces of the hobbits, the crowd, and Strider. Well she wanted _him_ to be bewildered. That meant he wasn't going to kill her. She looked between each face with a huge grin, waiting for somebody to say something.

"...Who are you?" Somebody finally asked.

"I am Bartholomew Winston Periwinkle Beatrice Quinston the Magnificent but my friends call me Pete."

"...But you're a woma-"

"SILENCE! Do not question PETE!" She shouted, causing everyone around the table to take a collective step backwards. Everyone except Pippin, however. He just looked amused. She gave a sweet grin and laced her fingers together, saying much softer than her shout, "I am Pete and those are my hobbits. We're erm... The Ringling Brothers," She shot the man who had spoken about her gender a withering look before he could comment and continued, "A group of traveling performers who specialize in making things disappear."

The crowd didn't look convinced, or comfortable for that matter, so she decided to pull out the secret weapons.

Peas.

"Don't want to eat veggies?" She asked cheerily, grabbing a plate of the icky green things and holding it up for everyone to see. "No problem for the Ringling Brothers!" She waved her hand over the vegetables with flourish, startling the crowd further when they disappeared.

Pippin clapped with obvious delight, making Tess swell with pride. Nobody but Jazz had ever really liked her little tricks before. In fact, it was Jazz's fault she knew them in the first place. The local bookstore had huge sales every Saturday and that was like Christmas for her quiet friend. Of course, due to her role as best friend, she was obliged to accompany Jasmine on those little excursions. Seems the bookstore thought magic books belonged in the dollar bin! Appalling really... She bought them all and learned up just in case she needed to use the skills...in situations like the one she was currently in really. Imagine that.

"Your empty mug make you sad?" She questioned, grabbing one from a startled man and spinning around so they could see. As efficiently as the peas, a flick of her hand and it was gone. This time the trick got more applause, though Pippin was still the most excited. "Gone and open for you to get another!"

"Hey!" Barliman cried, outraged that she had made one of his tableware disappear.

"Tired of your hair?" She snapped, turning to him, angry he was disrupting her act. "Oh wait! Your biological clock has already taken care of that!"

As the hall erupted into roaring laughter and Barliman flushed in embarrassment, Tess blinked as she felt somebody tug on her hand leg. Looking down she saw Pippin, grinning from ear to ear. She hopped off the table and felt him take her hand, tugging her towards the darkened hallway leading to the rooms and away from the crowd that was now delivering stinging pats on her back for her performance. She couldn't leave without one last parting to her loyal fans, now could she?

"Thank you! Pete is pleased with your blatant worship! I'll be here all week, folks! Don't forget to tip your waitresses!" She gave them thumbs up and trotted after the little hobbit, realizing that Sam and Frodo were waiting in the hall for them. The two hobbits seemed surprised to see Pippin leading her but only Sam voiced his thoughts.

"Pippin! What are you doing?"

"She's nice, Sam! I figured since she saved Frodo and all..."

"Well you figured wrong! Mr. Frodo-"

"She saved Frodo!"

"Um...Excuse me," Tess interrupted, striding past them towards the door Frodo had stopped in front of to unlock, "I have peas in my sleeve and a mug in my pants and I want them to not be there anymore."

At her approach, Frodo gave her a soft smile and stepped aside to let her enter, thereby settling the argument. Pippin stuck his tongue out at a fuming Samwise and entered after her. Tess frowned as she opened her sleeve and a few cups of peas flowed out into the waste bin. After giving her sleeve a good shake to make sure no stray vegetables remained, she left the sleeve opened and reached under the waistband of her trousers, fumbling for the mug. If she minded the hobbits' presence, she didn't show it as she yanked it out and set it on a table.

"So that was all it was all an illusion?" Frodo asked as Sam busied himself with stoking the fire. "Hand tricks?"

"Well you know what they say," She replied with a smirk, "The best kind of magic is the unknown." Her taunting smile faded though when she became concerned. "You shouldn't do that though..."

"Do what?" The oldest hobbit asked. He looked her up and down, eyes hardened with caution and fear.

"Put on the ring in public." She snapped, placing her hands on her hips and frowning despite their horrified glances between each other. Even Pippin looked like he was regretting bringing her to the room.

"How do you know about that?" Sam demanded angrily, clenching his fists and clearly threatening to knock her one if she didn't explain. Personally, she thought an angry hobbit looked adorable.

"I would like to know the same thing."

Personally, she thought a sinister looking ranger sitting in a previously empty chair practically pouring menacing shadows from his pores and fingering the hilt of his very sharp sword that had amazing decapitating ability was not adorable.

Tess shot looks around the room, wondering how she ended up in two situations that had the potential to form an angry mob in less than ten minutes. It seemed she was just so popular tonight. Try and do some chivalrous things and you get immediate distrust. It was like high school...except with the hobbits, magic rings, and scary rangers.

How had Aragorn gotten in that chair anyways?

The teen frowned when she realized that she was getting seriously off track and Strider had stood to lop her head off. Finally, she spouted off the first thing that popped to her head.

"_All that is gold does not glitter_!" It was amazing how that one line of poetry halted the unstoppable ranger in his tracks and made him freeze up like a statue. This gave Tess some much-needed confidence, allowing her to meet the stormy gray eyes now regarding her with slight shock. The hobbits looked confused, staring between the two as if the answer to the riddle would pop up between their heated gaze. It was so tense Sam didn't even have the courage to demand to know who _Strider_ was, let alone break the duel of wills.

"_Not all who wander are lost_." Tess continued softly, feeling no need to speak any louder than a whisper. The quiet was so complete that it was like a shout anyways. "_The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king._"

As the last word echoed in the quiet room, Aragorn lowered his hand from his sword and regarded her with no more hostility. Rather, he wore a look that was simply curious. All Tess cared was he wasn't going to kill her. She had had enough of death for one lifetime...afterlife...whatever.

"Where did you hear that?" The ranger asked, barely about a murmur.

"A wizard... Gandalf..." She stated, trying to sound truthful. She didn't want to be kicked out into the unknown again. She wanted to be with the hobbits and Aragorn. They were familiar. They comforted her and reminded her of home. She wasn't about to let them slip by into oblivion with a sharp word and a quick dismissal. She needed them right now.

After her admission, Aragorn opened his mouth to ask another question when the hobbits decided it was time for them to speak...all at once.

"And who are _you_, longshanks?" Sam demanded, placing his hands on his hips much like Tess had done earlier. It made her giggle.

"You know Gandalf?" Frodo asked desperately, appearing in front of the girl so suddenly that it made her jump in surprise.

"I'm hungry..." Pippin whimpered pitifully. Tess frowned at this and slipped a piece of bread she had stolen from the common room to him, pleased to see he brightened immensely at having more food.

"Can you tell me where he is please?"

"Frodo, do you know this man?"

"Peace, hobbits." Aragorn snapped, raising a hand and effectively cutting the three off before they got too far-gone in their questions that they forgot they could get answers. He lowered his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I came here to speak with Frodo, who promised a quiet word with me, but it seems I have gotten more than I ever expected." With this he shot a look at Tess, who grinned cheekily and wagged her fingers at him in a wave.

"You said you had some things to say that might aid me." The Ring-bearer said slowly, moving a bit closer to Tess. Perhaps it was the fact that she seemed to know Gandalf that being near her made him feel safer. She liked to think it was her natural charm.

"Indeed I do... For a price of course." He smirked at their appalled faces. They obviously thought him a ruffian out for their money. His grin almost faltered when he saw that the girl did not share their thoughts, instead looking extremely amused. Could she really see through his little joke?

"Don't worry, little buddies. Uncle Strider is just kidding. He doesn't want your money." That proved that she could but... _Uncle Strider_? "He, like me, wants to come along with you."

Wait... _what_?

Before Strider could object to this, Frodo frowned and said, "I must know a great deal more before even considering such a request..."

Aragorn smiled softly, assured that at least one of the hobbits had the wits to go on the perilous mission. Ignoring what the girl had suggested, he replied, "Excellent! Shall we get down to business then?"

"Then tell us what you know, Strider." Frodo demanded, sitting and crossing his arms with a frown.

Tess looked around before choosing a seat on a small hobbit bed. Pippin sat next to her, giving her a small, sheepish grin that she returned whole-heartedly before turning her attentions to Aragorn as he got underway with what he knew of the dark riders. At the mention of the Nazgul, Tess stiffened. So _they_ were in this world too, huh? It made sense, seeing as she was in Middle Earth, but just having their existence confirmed frightened her. If she went with them, inevitably to Weathertop, she would be forced to confront them. She couldn't defend herself against such creatures... Hell she couldn't even fight off her own father!

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a small hand on her forearm. Turning with owlish eyes, she met the concerned eyes of her young hobbit friend. The conversation had stilled and everyone was staring at her. She tried to grin but it crumbled immediately. She couldn't feign happiness at a time like this.

"You have met these black riders then?" Strider asked softly, face drawn in pain as he obviously thought of them as well.

"...Yes. I have." She whispered, looking back down at her trembling hands. She clasped them together tightly and suddenly felt the great need to get out of the small room and back into the open air. It was almost more than she could stand. She pulled back out of the conversation once more, certain of where it was going and knowing that it would not take her participation to continue. She would only interfere if the hobbits seemed about to reject Aragorn as a guide. She knew that would turn out to be disastrous.

She found that she liked the hobbits very much even though she had barely met them an hour ago. She wanted to protect them. Maybe it was because they looked like kids. Tess trusted kids. They tended to be so innocent and unable to make the brash judgments of adult life. You were simply a person, not a label. Also, they seemed to trust her. Well... Sam didn't. But he never trusted anyone really. It might have been simply because they were hobbits. Hobbits were the spiff.

A knock startled her out of her thoughts, making her lift her head in time to see Butterbur walk in. When he noticed her on the bed, he scowled, brushing all of Tess's dark thoughts to the side so that good ole sarcastic mocking could take their place.

"Howdy, Barliman! I see your biological clock hasn't figured out how to make things reappear, huh?"

The innkeeper ignored Pippin's soft snickers and turned to Frodo. "Beggin' your pardon. I came to wish you good night." The man looked nervous about something and unsure about whether to speak his mind about it with Tess in company. Of course Tess knew exactly what it was that he wanted to inform Frodo about. The letter from Gandalf. Butterbur had checked her in. He knew that she wasn't really in a performance group with the hobbits because they had arrived separately. Apparently, if the teen didn't hightail it out of there immediately, the man would just continue to stand there and not bring up the important letter and Strider would never go with the hobbits and all would be lost!

She needed to take action!

"I better be doing the same, guys." She stated loudly, standing up and giving the hobbits a wave despite their wide, confused eyes. Frodo looked slightly stricken that a possible link to his wizard friend was walking out the door just as easily as she had walked in. Tess gave him a wink, grinning when relief flooded the hobbit's features, and proceeded past him through the door. "Nighty night."

As soon as she was through the doorway it was closed and she stuck her tongue out at it. Stupid innkeeper. She fished her room key out of her pocket and looked at it with a small frown. Going to her room and laying around until she could sneak back to the hobbits didn't seem too appealing. She returned the key to her pocket and decided that she would go sit outside for a while. Besides, if she waited outside, she would be able to see Nob run off to find Merry. That would mean Butterbur had vacated the hobbits' rooms and it was safe for her to return.

Pleased with her brilliant deduction, she walked out of the quiet Prancing Pony to wait.

&&&

The only thing that Adonai hated about hunting was waiting.

Yet here he was, sitting outside the Prancing Pony on an empty fruit cart, _waiting_. The streets had long since been deserted for the comfort of indoors. A hot fire and a good meal appealed to Adonai, of course, but he wasn't allowed such commodities. Not until he had that hobbit's neck in his hands and his blood pooling on the ground.

To think he had kept his distance tonight because of some mere ranger... Adonai frowned at the thought and lay himself down on the wooden table of the cart, tucking his tail out of sight and flattening his wings overtop of him to shelter him from the sprinkling rain. To the passerby he would appear as a pile of junk covered in a wet tarp. He wouldn't be disturbed.

That ranger was odd. Why was he following the hobbits? Did he want them for the same reason the Nazgul did? Quite possibly. Was he a hunter like himself? Not likely, Adonai thought with a smirk, unless hobbits had recently become a delicacy. Either way, the ranger was a threat that had to be accounted for. Rangers could be dangerous, though not as dangerous as him. This one...he seemed different. The feeling that nagged Adonai was enough for him to hesitate. He could have

With a disgusted snort, Adonai wished he could just let the hobbit go but knew he could not. It was against his animalistic nature to let a hunt end before capture. He would either have that halfling or die trying. It had been the same on all his previous hunts and it would undeniably be the same for this one. Sometimes... He looked over to the door of the inn and sighed.

Sometimes he wished he didn't have to _wait_ so much because of it.

Adonai stiffened when he felt someone approach him. So much for not being disturbed. He forgot that these were dark times and those up to no good often roamed the streets. Somebody probably thought they were about to make an easy theft.

Rather... that somebody was going to make an easy _meal_.

As soon as he felt fingers brush his wing, he extended it sharply, throwing the unsuspecting man backwards into the mud. He pushed himself up and swiveled, his long tail shooting out and tightening around the man's throat before he could even think to scream for help. Adonai smirked and slid off the cart, lifting the man off the ground and shaking his head as the man struggled. "Tsk, tsk, my good man... Don't you know better than to disturb one who is sleeping...It's rude." One swift yank and a sickening crack filled the creature's ears and the hapless person stilled.

Music to his ears.

Adonai gave one look to the inn before slipping down an alley to find a quiet place to enjoy his new meal. Should he have waited a few seconds longer he would have seen a familiar young girl stride up to the inn and encounter her first hobbit. Instead, he scaled the stone wall of a nearby building and settled on the roof now that the rain had lessened to nothing.

As Adonai peacefully indulged in his meal, he let his mind wander. Such odd happenings lately. Hobbits on the move, female wraiths appearing out of nowhere with a feathered consorts, "Goth" girls appearing under equally disturbing circumstances... It couldn't all be coincidence. It was impossible. Somehow, the events were connected, or soon to be connected. Adonai frowned and wondered if his involvement in the events was fated or the only coincidence. Then again...what were the chances...?

The wraith snorted, picking at his food in disgust. He shouldn't put too much thought into it. Once he got his hobbit he would disappear like he always did. He wouldn't get involved in the affairs of the world, not again. It never amounted to anything but heartache in the end...

Suddenly, Adonai wasn't very hungry.

He stood and gave the body a swift kick. Sadly, it did not lessen his anger at all. The red-haired man spun away from the corpse and leapt from the rooftop to another, running to let some of his excess energy flow out. He wouldn't get a chance at the hobbits this night, not with their little ranger there. Too much mess. Too much complication.

He'd simply wait some more.

He halted suddenly when a noise pricked his ears to attention. Turning his head in what he assumed was the direction; he cocked his head to the side and listened. Nothing. A frown once again marred his features as he changed his course towards the sound. His curiosity was piqued and he was desperate to do something instead of _wait_...He felt his anger rise again and his speed quicken.

The scene he came upon was strange. A hobbit was lying on the ground next to a fence choked with overgrown hedges as two figures loomed over him. One was a man that Adonai didn't recognize. The other...

The Nazgul. These were the beings searching for Baggins of the Shire. Adonai might have been unable to interact within society but he could live on the farthest fringes. He knew many of the stories passing through the pubs and inns. Actually seeing one of the dark riders appearing in the same town his strange prey was staying in shook him, but it also confirmed his earlier suspicion about the halfling. He was the one they were after. His hand gripped his spear tighter and a growl left his throat.

That hobbit was _his_.

Adonai didn't even realize that the spear had left his hand until it sailed through the flesh of the black rider's cohort, crashing through the wood of the fence and sending a shower of splinters raining down on the duo.

The man gripped his shoulder and screamed while his companion turned that faceless darkness upon the wraith. With a snarl of rage, the Adonai leapt from the roof to the street, baring his fangs at the dark rider and flexing his clawed fingers. He had never felt his possessiveness over prey take such a hold over him before. None of the other prey had incited such an uncontrollable urge to engage in battle against all odds like he was about to now. Fighting the Nazgul was certain death.

He couldn't stop himself.

"Stay _away_ from Baggins..." He warned, bracing himself for an attack and keeping his eyes trained on that abyss of darkness where a human face had long ceased to be, "He's _mine_."

Before he could launch himself at his foe, the dark rider screeched and fled backwards into the shadow, vanishing from even Adonai's keen vision. He looked away for the man who unwittingly met with the object of the winged creature's bloodlust and thereby became his scapegoat. The man was gone, a trail of blood leading away from the scene. This only made the wraith's anger grow. Now he had no way to reach the black riders!

Before Adonai could give chase, he felt a small hand close on his ankle. The wraith growled and turned his gaze to the ground to remove the infernal object and froze, anger vanishing like ashes in the wind—burnt out and forgotten. The hobbit stared up at him through hazy slits, eyes clearly unable to focus enough to see who Adonai was.

"I thought...I had fallen into deep water..." The halfling whispered, his grip loosening.

Adonai could hear footsteps rapidly approaching and finally got a hold of himself. That one man's screaming had obviously alerted someone to come running and he was not about to wait around to become the hunted. He pulled his spear from where it had landed and backed out of the small grip towards a dark alley, keeping his eyes trained on the hobbit should the little one make any move towards him. The hobbit's head fell back against the ground as consciousness left him once more.

He watched from the sheltering shadows of the alley as another hobbit rounded the corner and gave a cry of surprise at the sight of the other laying in the road, running to the his side to wake him. Adonai didn't care if this hobbit lived or died by the Nazgul's dark powers when the fallen one finally leapt to his feet and sprinted towards the Prancing Pony in terror with the other on his heels, leaving the road empty once more, he returned to the roofs to follow.

He had a feeling he wasn't going to get much sleep.

&&&

Darien sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, shooting Jazz looks from behind a defensive curtain of bangs. The girl hadn't said a word since his last admission about her curse. She had simply walked away, blindly moving up the road without offering him a gesture or word to follow. He did so simply out of habit as a guardian angel and necessity to keep moving himself. He would go insane if he was forced to sit alone and in the quiet while Jasmine, no _Jazz_, was alone and unguarded.

He was starting to think now, however, that she simply kept walking because he simply kept following. Even when it had started to rain during the early evening and he had placed his own cloak around her shoulders she had failed to acknowledge the gesture or notice it at all. Not that Darien could really blame her. He looked to the ground and bit his lip, remembering all too well the conversation they shared outside of Bree. She probably was hoping he'd catch the hint and stop following her. He couldn't do it though, no matter how many times she ordered him to leave. It wasn't in his heart to do so.

In all his years of being a guardian angel, and he had _a lot_ of years, he had never felt such a deep desire to help somebody before. However, also during those many years as a guardian angel, he had never had a person so completely ostracized by her peers. He'd never had a charge like that before. They had all been easily accepted...loved even. Jazz wasn't overly beautiful, daring, or charismatic. In fact the only thing that Jazz had that was not average was her exceptional intelligence, though that could easily have been acquired through years of no social life. Instead of blossoming into a socialite butterfly, she had become a reserved moth.

Always fluttering in the dark looking for that dazzling light but afraid to get too close and burn.

It pained Darien like nothing else had before because it had given him something he had never received from his other charges. A connection, though one-sided until this morning, had been made between angel and guarded. Darien had never been the most...accepted angel in the afterworld. He just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. His becoming an angel must have been a fluke, a mistake. That's why they kept demoting him, blaming every little wrong on him.

Somebody had to clean up the mistakes right?

Now here he was, far away from all that in a world he didn't even know existed with the one person he had ever felt similar to and he had driven her away. Another mistake made by the mistake of the millennium. He scrunched his eyes closed and let a ragged sigh slip out. He really _should _just leave Jazz alone. He had caused enough trouble already.

He didn't even realize that the object of his thoughts had stopped walking until he ran into her, sending them both reeling until he caught her and steadied them both. He released her immediately and took a step away, shifting his weight awkwardly as she turned her bright blue eyes on him. The angel couldn't help but wonder if her curse had adapted her eyes to the dark world her other half lived in...

"Darien..." She breathed in quiet shock, as if realizing where and when she was. The teen scanned her surroundings quickly before her eyes landed on the angel, before echoing the name again, "Darien..."

"Yes...?" He answered slowly, unsure if she was asking something of him or merely confirming his presence.

Then she smiled and held out her hand. It was a smile laced with worry and sadness but over all of that was a great sense of hope. It lit up the dark thoughts plaguing his mind and allowed him to give her a ghost of a smile back but he did not take her hand. Instead, he stared at it, not comprehending why in the world she would want him to hold her hand.

"I think we're in over our heads. We've been thrown into something we were never prepared to face." She whispered, not lowering her hand despite his lack of movement to take it. "What you've given me is anything but a curse, Darien. It was a gift. A _great_ gift... You gave me life and I will forever be indebted to you for that...But you can't back out on me now. Just because we weren't prepared then does not mean we can't prepare now. I _need_ you to do this with me..."

Darien finally looked up at her words, slightly taken aback by the emotion behind them. Jazz wasn't lying or trying to trick him. She _believed_ what she had said to him and was hoping he would do the same. He hadn't realized that even though he was following her, he wasn't _with_ her. He had been trying to force himself away from her to hide in his own guilt, trying to prevent any more damage while instead causing more by his retreat. Slowly, her words were rebuilding the bridge between them that had collapsed under the weight of his self-loathing.

"Darien..." Her smile turned wry as she continued to wait for him to take the final step in the reconstruction. "You're my angel. You've been there for me my entire life and I only realized that this morning when I woke up in the middle of a forest with you standing over me, _caring_ whether or not I woke up again. You are one of the few, _few_ people in my life that were ever willing to wait around and give me a second chance...That means the world to me and I would hate to lose that... You're all I have here." She paused, biting her lip in one of her nervous gestures Darien had become well acquainted to and ever so slightly retracting her hand. "Darien...I've thought about this all day and I've never been so sure in my life but..." Suddenly her eyes became determined and she fully extended her hand once more, meeting his unsure gaze.

"This is not your fault."

Those words brought such relief to him that it felt like all that crushing weight of remorse was lifted off his shoulders. Jazz believed it wasn't his fault. She wasn't angry with him or wanted him to go away. She _wanted_ him to _stay_. He practically beamed at her and it must have caught her off guard for she looked away and bit her lip once more, curling in on herself self-consciously.

Darien would have none of that.

He quickly reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him until she was locked in his arms. She wiggled and blushed, muttering quiet objections to the treatment, all the determination and sureness vanishing as she once more became average, book-wormy Jasmine Black. He laughed and released her, watching her fumble with awkward words and refuse to meet his gaze once more. He didn't care though. He was the happiest he had felt in a long time.

Their moment was cut short, however, when a bloodcurdling screech floated down the road to them, sending shivers up their spine and freezing the marrow in their bones. One look between them confirmed it and they fled from the road towards the shelter of the trees even as the sound of hooves just reached their hearing. They slid down a small embankment into the trees just as a black rider flew down the road at breakneck speed towards the town they had just left. The two did not move from their hiding spot until the sound of hooves had faded into the distance a little while afterwards.

Slowly, Darien lifted his head above the embankment peered out at the road. Nothing in sight. "A Nazgul..."

"Going to Bree I guess..." Jazz murmured below him, staring up at him through the darkness. "We can't travel on the road at night..." She added, almost as an after thought. She had spent the whole day pondering their situation but had not given the slightest thought that she could be putting them in danger by not leaving the road.

"I don't think we can risk a fire this close either..." Darien replied, sliding back down to her side with a sigh. "We should rest anyhow... I'm sure you're tired... We were on the road for more than a day."

On the contrary, Jazz felt invigorated and hardly sleepy at all. She wasn't sure what to make of this but blamed it on the lunar wraith she now had within her. Despite this, she didn't want Darien to worry and she _was_ awfully sore from walking. At least she didn't have blisters from walking so much. Ranger shoes were extremely comfortable and made for walking. She was glad she chose to wear them.

Decided, she gave Darien a shy smile and wondered how they were both going to fit under the cloak to stay warm. As if reading her mind, he gave her a small smile in return and his wings reappeared, small ripping noises signifying his shirt was adjusting to the new appendages.

"Here..." He moved over next to her and folded his wings over the both of them. Jazz was surprised at how warm she immediately got, feeling like she had several blankets piled on top of her.

"This must be what an egg feels like." She muttered, trying to get comfortable on the hard ground.

Darien chuckled and rested his head on his arms, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. "Maybe..."

Jazz finally got comfortable and lay still, staring out from under the feathers into the darkness beyond before substituting it for the complete darkness by closing her eyes. Silence descended on them, only broken by the occasional sound from within the trees. After a few moments, the young girl murmured, "Good night, Darien."

"Good night, Jazz. Pleasant dreams."

&&&

Tess was starting to get bored when Nob finally walked past her into the night to search for Merry, giving her a cheerful good evening as he did so. Tess just loved those hobbits...

Taking her cue to return inside, she re-entered the inn and took the familiar hall back to the hobbits' room. Before she entered though, she knocked and gave a small call to alert her presence. She didn't want them to stab her or anything if she suddenly burst in on them with no warning. _Especially_ Strider.

When said man let her in, she gave him her customary cheeky smile and waved to the assembled hobbits. "Yo, boys! What did I miss?" She knew exactly what she had missed, but for the sake of appearing normal to the hobbits and not looking like a psychic nut job she was forced to ask. She was sure that Aragorn still did not trust her even though she had quoted the poem to him. However, one look to the halflings showed they trusted her completely after reading the letter from Gandalf.

Except Sam. He never trusted anyone.

Happy she had successfully pulled off the hoax—_for now_—she accepted the letter from Frodo. As she read it, she couldn't help the faint grin on her face at the way Gandalf used words. The wizard would probably be amazing to talk to...

She froze as she thought about that. Talk to Gandalf? He'd immediately see through her ploy because _he was the ploy_! She lowered the letter and frowned, unconsciously reaching up to play with a lock of her hair. What would she do? She guessed she could leave the hobbits before they reached Rivendell... Or escape in the confusion when Frodo rides to the Ford... If she didn't think of something she was screwed! Why didn't she listen to Jazz when she was told to think before acting!

"Tess...? Are you alright?" Pippin asked quietly, lightly touching her on the arm to regain her attention.

The girl looked up, seeing that she had once again become the center point for strange stares by losing herself in thought again. She forced a grin on her face and passed the letter back to Frodo, waving off Pippin's concern. "I'm sorry... I'm just a little worried about Gandalf..." That wasn't a _complete_ lie really...

Strider didn't look like he believed her semi-lie but she was spared any questions from the man when a door slammed and a rush of feet swept through the inn, drawing all stares to the closed door through which Merry and Nob dashed through seconds later, all out of breath and flustered. Tess's mind blanked out for a moment as to why the two hobbits could be in such a panic until Merry cried out the cause and jogged her memory.

"Black riders! I saw them!"

"Where?" Tess asked along with Frodo, alerting Merry to her presence in the room and further confusing him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Later, Merry, later!" Frodo interrupted, pulling Merry's attention back to himself. "Where did you see them?"

"I only saw one." The other admitted, seeming to calm down now that he was among friends. "I was walking and I saw a shadow that was deeper than the rest. This horrible feeling take hold of me so suddenly I was struck still as a post in the road until it swept around the corner without a sound. I didn't see a horse."

"Where was it?" Aragorn questioned sharply and urgently, once again drawing Merry's attention away from the matter at hand.

"Who are _you_?"

"_Later_, Merry!" The oldest hobbit pleaded with his cousin once more, shaking him back onto the previous line of conversation.

"Right..." The hobbit shot the ranger a look before returning to his story. "Eastward... I went to follow it up the road but I lost it, I think..."

"Stupid!" Tess shot out before Aragorn could open his mouth to speak. "You should have come straight back here!"

Merry had the wits about him to look sheepish. "I couldn't rightly help it... I felt pulled towards the shadow... Anyway, as I searched for the shadow I heard some voices next to a hedge and stopped to listen. I couldn't hear a word but I got the feeling I should have been anywhere else... I was nearly scared out of my skin and went to run back but then I...I just fell over."

"That's exactly how I found him, Mr. Strider, sir." Nob piped up, reminding Tess that he was even there in the first place. Merry moved away from the door and took a seat on the other empty space beside Tess on the bed seeing as Pippin had filled the first one. Up close, Merry did look pale and shaken and it made the teen feel a little sorry for her sharp words earlier. She placed a hand on his shoulder and offered him an apologetic smile, which he returned slowly but sincerely. Nob continued, pulling Tess's attention back to the story, "I heard this awful screaming and I went running to find out what it was, sir. That's when I found Mr. Merry here lying in the road just nigh Bill Ferny's house. It was terrible, sir. The fence had a gaping hole in it and there was blood on the ground everywhere. At first I thought it was Mr. Merry's but he doesn't have a scratch on him it seems."

Aragorn frowned and looked away, digesting this new information. The Nazgul did not bleed so that meant that whoever's blood was on the ground had felt the wrath of the dark rider and able to bleed a mortal's blood. However, if the black rider had meant to kill his cohort, there should have been a body... At great length he finally asked, "Was there anybody else there?"

Merry's head snapped up but he didn't say anything, as Nob answered honestly, "Not that I could see, sir. I didn't see a soul around except Mr. Merry." The hobbit even nodded his head to emphasize his truthfulness.

Merry's reaction did not escape Aragorn, nor did it Tess. The girl frowned and leaned down to peer up at Merry's once again down-turned face. "Merry... Did _you_ see somebody?"

His eyes flickered over to her before once again focusing on the floor. Slowly, as if with great effort, he recalled what he saw on the road that night, "Well... I wasn't quite sure if I actually saw him... It felt more like a dream than reality, you see. I remember a man standing over me, looking down at me. I might have grabbed him... I don't know...I remember red, _lots_ of fiery red, and flashes of purple... I think they might have been his _eyes_..." If Merry saw Frodo wince and turn away to the fire or Tess's eyes widen in recognition, he didn't comment on it. All he said was, "That's all I remember...Or think I remember really... When Nob woke me up I was alone."

Aragorn rested his chin in his hand, frowning into the fire as his brow furrowed in thought. If the man Merry described actually existed, it would explain why the Nazgul or his mortal accomplice had not taken Merry. It would also explain the bizarre scene Nob had come upon on the street. He did not believe the Black Breath of the Nazgul would induce such a dream either. He could on deduce that the man was indeed real and had fled before he was discovered.

Across the room, Tess and Frodo were having different thoughts about Merry's savior. The older hobbit trembled with fright as he remembered his own encounter with the red-haired man with purple eyes. When he closed his eyes to collect himself, he nearly gasped when he was assaulted with mental images of the creature baring his fangs, flexing his claws, killing without remorse... He quickly opened his eyes and returned their gaze to the fire, trying to block the scenes from his memory.

Tess, however, grit her teeth in rage. So the jerk was in town. That made sense since he had been chasing the hobbits that morning. Still, that did not lessen any of the anger the girl felt towards her "guide". Why had the guy saved Merry if he was hunting the hobbits? Was he mocking his prey before the final blow or was his hunt simply more complicated than he originally let on? Tess frowned and felt her anger slowly ebb away as she wondered if she should inform her new friends that they were the objects of some monster's great chase...

"Will they attack the inn?" Merry asked softly, snapping the three from their thoughts and bringing them back into the room.

"...They obviously have learned of your exploits, Frodo, and will most certainly attempt something tonight. However, I do not believe they will come themselves. They are not all together. No... They will get others to do their work for them. They obviously hold some sway over several in this town." The ranger replied, turning his thoughts from Merry's savior to what they must do to remain safe through the night. "You will come to my room and remain there through the night..."

"And we should set up look-alikes in the beds!" Tess suggested, bringing the stormy gray eyes of the ranger on her. "You know... A diversion!"

Aragorn laughed at the suggestion and gave her a nod. "Yes... An idea indeed! Come. We will move their luggage while Nob creates your...diversion." He looked amused just saying the word.

As he led Tess away and the hobbits tried to catch Merry up on all that transpired, she couldn't help but think she wouldn't get much sleep tonight.

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P.A.: Well would you look at that! A chapter! Woo!

Kenshin: —dusted and refreshed from his hiatus— Congratulations.

P.A.: Thank you! I actually get a day off after this before Yume-chan threatens me to write another chapter for another of the stories I've completely neglected the past year.

Kenshin: Good. You will get a lot of rest, that you will.

P.A.: Sorry for the uber long delay again, folks! R&R and chew me out about it around some constructive criticism please!


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